Give your garden some glow with some creative ideas for using candles outdoors. Many materials that you can find right in your house can become receptacles for candles. By using these outdoors, your garden can become a mystical and charming place after dark. Here are five ideas to inspire you:
- Create pillars of light by wrapping strong vellum paper around pillar candles. You could use any paper, but vellum is more translucent. Place the candles on a fire-proof surface, such as rocks, tiles or concrete. Although you might think the paper would catch on fire, they will work even in a light breeze.
- Use a frosted globe (you know the kind – some ceiling light fixtures use them) with a tea light candle inside. You’ll have a gorgeous glowing ball of light, a great addition along a pathway, set among rocks to support it. Just face the opening of the globe out of sight.
- Tie twine around the edges of glass jar rims, and use the ends to hang the jar from a beam, a tree or a hook. Place a tea candle inside, and hang several of these from an arbor, or among a tree’s branches. Use small jars so it’s easy to place the candle inside. Baby food jars are a good choice.
- Make some ice candles. Yes, I said ice. Just secure a small smooth sided container inside a larger one, fill the large one with water, and freeze it. Remove the small container. If it seems hard to remove, fill it quickly with hot water, and it should release. Remove the large container also, so you now have a clear ice container. Put a votive candle in the center. As the ice slowly melts from the lit candle’s heat, it will change the light’s intensity and pattern in interesting ways.
- Use one of your tall glasses and place a tea candle inside. Take some leaves – broad ones, segmented ones, and different sized and shaped ones – and tie them around the glass with raffia or twine. As the light shines through them, the leaf vein structures will show beautifully. The heat will dry the leaves, but that won’t matter, as they will still look great.
These are just five ideas for candle containers to get you inspired. Look around your house, and you will find more. Check out the thrift shops for interesting glassware. With outdoor candles, you will enjoy beautiful evenings outdoors, enhanced by the soft glow of candlelight.
As always, with candles, use precautions. Keep them away from pets and children, and place them on fire-proof surfaces.
