Crafted DIY: Decorative Candle

While flipping through the pages of "Homemade Gifts With Love" by  Catherine Woram, I came across a decorative candle and thought it would be a masterpiece to add to a family dinner or get together. Truthfully, it's just another project to fit the aesthetics and an overall look of the house.



STEP 1: GATHER MATERIALS
To start off this project you'll need a bowl, brushes, a spoon, ribbon, tape, candle, sugar, and glue. Why are glue and sugar on the same DIY you ask? Read more to find out!!












STEP 2: TAPE & GLUE
After gathering the materials you want to put tape around the circumference of the candle (to your height of preference) and use the tape as a template. From there, you want to use the paint brush and spread the glue to the bottom half of the candle. This glue will be the sticking agent for the next step.














STEP 3: SPRINKLE

Sorry for the bad quality... My attempt to capture action

Once you've distributed the glue evenly, you want to place the candle inside the bow so that way it would be easier to clean up. You take a spoonful of sugar and dump it onto the glue so it would stick as for a design.



















STEP 4: DRY & TIE
When you're finished putting the sugar around the entire circumference, I would recommend letting the glue and sugar dry completely. After it has dried completely, you can take a pretty little ribbon and tie it into a bow. That is all, all done in 4 easy steps in less than 5 minutes. (:













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AFTERMATH: The decorative candle looked beautiful as a result, but it did have its flaws. When doing this project I recommend that you use tiny crystal looking beads instead of sugar because you probably prefer not to use something edible. Make sure to also let the glue dry or it will peel off!



CITATION:
Woram, Catherine. "Chapter 3: For the Girls." Homemade Gifts with Love: Over 35 Beautiful Handcrafted Gifts to Make and Give. London: Cico, 2010. 58-59. Print.

Remember Ribbon Drawing

REMEMBER RIBBON

For my second drawing, I will be drawing a remember ribbon from the book "How to Draw Cool Stuff" by Catherine V. Holmes. To draw this properly, I will need to understand "How to create the illusion of shadows and light in a drawing" (Holmes 51). By learning how to do this, it will add dark and light values that make the ribbon appear more realistic.

Steps:
1. The first step is to draw a skinny oval. Then draw a triangle underneath the oval, to make it look like an upside down cone.

2. Erase the bottom of the oval and add two, small curved lines extending from the triangle. Then connect the two lines by drawing an arch.

3. From the point of the triangle, continue the two lines diagonally so it appears as an X.

4. Draw two lines at a light slope extending from the top arch and draw two more diagonal lines extending from the angled lines. Then close the ribbon ends with diagonals.

5. Add shading, starting with dark areas first and add light layers with your pencil. Extend the shading further down the ribbon by adding a slightly lighter shade next to the medium shadows. If you want, you can take a tissue covering your finger tip and gently blend in the shading to make the lines blend away.

 By using shading, it adds depth and form to the ribbon and it makes it look real. The definition of shading in the book says "Showing change from light to dark in a picture by darkening areas that would be shadowed and leaving other areas light" (Holmes 51). Shading is important because it provides the illusion of dimension and depth.

Remember ribbons are commonly used to bring awareness to certain kinds of cancer. They represent the different kinds of cancers through colors. This is a great thing to learn how to draw because it can be put to a great cause and spread awareness to people. Also, it is very quick and easy, that anyone can do! Trust me, if I can do it, you can too.

What are your thoughts on how this simple drawing can bring awareness to a larger cause? Tell me what you think in the comments below(:

Holmes, Catherine V. How to Draw Cool Stuff. N.p.: Library Tales, 2014. Print.