candle branches

I´m back! My surgery went surprisingly well and I´m slowly recovering. I´ve tried to take time to myself and really haven´t even been able to do much lately so I thought I´d share you one of my last years favorite DIY projects:

This is easy project and the hard part is probably finding the right branch ;). Basically you need just a drill, branch, glue and those metal parts for candles (mine are for tea light candles). I  ordered them from www.slojd-detaljer.fi, a Swedish firm, which delivers also to Finland. I´m sure you can find similar ones from Amazon or craft stores.

First you must have a branch that´s very sturdy and balanced on the table, so it won´t fall over. With candles you never can be too careful, so test the branch before proceeding to next step.

Now it´s time to decide where to drill holes for the metal candle holders. I used a pencil to mark the spots. You don´t want to drill all the way through, so the metal won´t stick out from the other side. Next you want to measure the metal spike so that you can choose the same size drill bit.

Drill the holes and put some glue in, I used just a regular wood glue to hold those metal parts tightly in place. The glue is not necessary though, but if you want to use it, choose a glue that turns clear when dry. 

Straight after the glue put your metal parts in. You need to have thick enough branch so the metal spike won´t go through the wood. It should how ever go deep enough so it´s properly adhered to the wood.

Wipe down down any exes glue as it´s still removable. Wait the glue to set and you are done!  

I made two of these, one for our kitchen table and one for the coffee table in our living room. The one in the living room I took one step further, I added some Himmeli-shapes on it, just placed them around the branch. I made sure there is enough space between the candles and the straw himmelis.

We decided to switch our coffee table to a smaller round one and the branch could´t fit on it. No worries though, we placed the one in the kitchen to our living room on a side table and the one from the coffee table to our kitchen. Why all this switching - because the one in our kitchen was a better fit to the side table :). I´m so in love with these! They look amazing with the candles! If you want to be extra careful you can use led candles, so no actual fire is needed.

I used Himmeli shapes, but you can use whatever you want to add a little extra character or just leave them as they are. It´s now your turn to make your own piece of art!