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Do-it-yourself decor for the season
With only a few days more to go for Christmas, it's a rush as usual to get things done. Decorating the home, wrapping gifts and arranging around the tree are part of the preparations of this season. Although shops are filled with readymade Christmas decorations, it's sometimes more fun to make your own decorations. And it's economical too.To give you some handy-hints and novel ideas on decor and candle making,
LAKMAL WELABADA talked to three people in the homecrafts field - Ramyali Leelaratne from Nugegoda, Nilanthi Karunaratne of Collage Gallery and Roshani Pieris from Kandana. Here are some of the ideas they had to offer.
Candles never fail to add a festive glow to an interior. Candles of all shapes, sizes and colours adorn the store shelves nowadays. But, you can have fun making some yourself.
Roshani Pieris gives step by step instructions on the craft of candle making.
The tools required. -An S-lon pipe (diameter - 2'' and the height - 8'' or optional), An end-cap of S-lon pipe, Paraffin wax, double boiler (two sizes of steel pans), stearic acid, candle wicks, big needle, candle dyes or children's wax crayons (wax chalks), packing tape (to avoid wax leakage), two pieces of metal sheets (one should be round one and the other should be rectangular. Diameter of the round piece should be less than that of the encap. Fold in half the two edges of the rectangular metal piece as shown in the picture. Make a hole in the middle of both pieces of steel). |
You can use ice cream scoops, the bottom part of a plastic 'Mega' bottle, toys (such as tortoises as shown in the picture), glass bowls or any other utensil found in the household as the candle mould. But make sure to pour the wax into such a mould while its immersed in cool water since it could crack for the hot wax.Use a heated candle needle to insert the wick to the well set and cooled candle when you cannot do so with the moulds like bowls and scoops.
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Make a cut on the S-lon pipe (candle mould) using a hax-saw blade. It will help you when taking the set candle out. |
Paste a piece of packing tape along the cut of the S-lon pipe. And then insert the pipe into the end-cap. Twist four strings of candle wick together. Insert one end through the two pieces of metal. Fasten the wick at each end with knots. |
 Put the round metal piece in to the encap, and fix the S-lon pipe and encap together. Seal the joint with packing tape. Leave the other metal piece anchored on the top of the pipe with the wick. The half folded edges of the top metal piece should be fixed to the pipe securely and further strengthened with packing tape. |
Peel off Paraffin wax and add Stearic acid (1 tsp acid for 500g wax, or the amount of acid should be 10 percent of the amount of wax). Put them into a pan and put it into a big pan with water. Don't let the water mix with the wax. Keep the double boiler on fire and let the wax melt until you get a watery form. If you want to dye the wax, add a little bit of candle dye powder (1/4 tsp dye to 250g wax) and stir well. If not mix the wax with a children's crayon. The wax will get coloured. |
Using a pair of forceps, pour the wax liquid into the candle mould. Let it cool off for about seven to ten hours (time depends on the size of the candle) Once the candle has cooled completely, take off the packing tapes and slip the candle from the mould. |
Pix: Chinthaka Kumarasinghe and Renuka Alwis. |
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 Interior arrangements done by
Nilanthi Karunaratne.
Stockings, floor cushions and pencil shaped bolster cushions which could be turned out even with remnant pieces of material are ideal to adorn the children's room during the season. |
This teapoy cover is a fabric painted raw cloth. To get the blotch effect, first wet the cloth, and then sponge the paint on it (soak a sponge with paint and keep it on the wet material to smear the paint all over). The scribbling can be done with a tube fabric glitter paint. Use X'mas colours to give the tea-poy a festive appearance. |
A table decor
by Ramyali Leelaratne.
This arrangement with stockinet Poinsettias, a candle and the tiny accessories is ideal for a table centre. The candle is made of cardboard folded cylindrically. A little wax is affixed on top to give the candle effect. |
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