I have been wanting to do this forever and I finally got around to it! I will say, if you are needing a lot of floating candles, it can be time consuming depending on what paint you use and which false bottom you decide to go with.
I knew I wanted to hang all of the candles throughout our long hallway to give it a mysterious vibe. I will also be keeping them up for Christmas as well since I put so much work and time into these! The Harry Potter series mostly reminds me of Christmas anyways.
I did not want to spend money on the ones you can buy that are ready to hang – they are expensive! I also like the idea of repurposing things and I didn’t like the price of the quantity of 100. LOL! BUT, if you want to buy the non DIY candles, you can find them linked here.
I started out gathering as much paper towel rolls as I could. I asked friends and family to save them for me as well because I knew I would need about 100. Thankfully between all of us, it only took a couple of weeks to gather up the amount I needed! I kept painting them as I got more so I wasn’t waiting until I gathered my quantity to do them all.
Here are the supplies you will need to do this floating candle DIY craft:
- Desired amount of paper towel rolls
- Sewing needle
- Thimble
- Fishing Line
- Clear thumbtacks
- Hammer
- Hot glue and hot glue gun
- White craft paint (Or you can use spray paint.)
- White muffin liners (If you choose to use this false bottom. Another option would be cutting white card stock circles the same size as the diameter of the paper towel rolls.)
- Tea light candles (Best option would be remote control operated.)
- Paper (doesn’t matter what kind)
- Ladder
First things first, I started with the hot glue to make it look like melted wax at the top of the candle. This gives the candle a more realistic look.
After the hot glue dried, I went over the hot glue and the whole paper towel with white craft paint. You can use spray paint, and it would be much faster, but I didn’t want my house smelling like spray paint. If you do use white spray paint, allow them to dry for a complete day or two outside to reduce the smell.
I let these dry overnight and then I started putting the fishing line through them with the sewing needle. You can see in the photo how I pierced through the paper towel roll about an inch or so down from the top. I calculated how much fishing line I would need to hang this from the ceiling (Our ceilings are tall, so I used a good bit.) I also knew that I wanted them to hang from different heights like they do in the movies.
After I pierced the fishing line through the paper towel roll, I let the fishing line hang out of both sides. I gathered the fishing line together at the ends as if the candle were already hanging from the ceiling, and I tied a knot at the top so I could secure this to a thumbtack in the ceiling. It is very easy to change your heights once you get the hanging them up as well if you don’t get the correct length of fishing line that you want the first time.
The next step is to crumble up a piece of paper and stick it in the top of the paper towel a little past the rim. The paper is what your tea light candles will sit on. While I was doing this, I stuck the white muffin liners in the bottom. I was not too happy with how the muffin liners looked, maybe next year I will go back and precut card stock circles to adhere to the bottom of the candles. I imagine that would take much more time. But, for now, the muffin liners will do. It was already a time consuming project.
To make this process go a little faster, I went ahead and secured my thumbtacks into the ceiling before I started hanging the candles. I didn’t want to climb up and down the ladder a bunch of times. Once I put all of my thumbtacks in, I had my husband hand me the candles that were ready to hang so we could be efficient with our time. I hung the candles first and then added the tea light candles on top. Be very careful if you are hanging these close together! The tea light candles will fall out if you bump them depending on how far down you put your paper in. This is why I put the candles in carefully after I hung the candles in that section.
Annnndddd…. VOILA! Or should I say… REVILIO CHARM!
I hope this has inspired you to add a little magic to your home this holiday season. Please tag my Facebook @Kaytlen Young or my Instagram @kaytlenpyoung if you do this craft. I would love to see your work! Check out my dining room Halloween decor here.
Until next time, Xoxo
