I have heard that there is a Japanese word that means "happy accident." This word applies to situations where an artist makes what she thinks is a mistake, and the mistake turns out to be the very thing that makes her work of art particularly pleasing. Although I wouldn't call the candles works of art, I did make a mistake while making them that led to an unexpected positive result.

I decided to make candles that had fall foliage embedded in their surfaces. I had seen such candles in stores, and knew only vaguely how to make them. I knew that the leaves were held to the candles by a thin layer of wax applied to the candle's surface, and that this is why the leaves seemed a part of the candle rather than a mere glued on embellishment.

I decided to experiment with different ways of accomplishing this, and I wasn't much looking forward to wrecking several candles and wasting a lot of leaves until I hit on the right technique. Nonetheless, I cut up a small amount of paraffin, placed it in a small bowl, and then floated the bowl over a pan of water on the stove. (Never melt wax directly over a flame!)

In just few minutes the paraffin had liquefied. When I attempted to remove the bowl from the pan of boiling water, some of the wax spilled into the water. I set the pan aside for a minute, and when I went back to it, I observed that if I stuck my finger into the now warm, but not hot wax-water, it came away covered in a thin layer of wax.

The light bulb went off! If wax water would coat my thumb, surely it would coat the candles!! I used a little Elmer's white glue to hold the leaves in place on a candle, dipped the candle into the wax water, lifted it out, rolled it on a flat surface, and there it was! The project I had dreaded for its complexity turned out to be really simple. And fast!!

As always, one project leads to another. Use this same technique to embellish candles with postage stamps, pressed flowers, fortunes from fortune cookies, and so on.

The moral to the story: don't be afraid to try new things. When you're not tied to someone else's way of doing something, you may find your own, better way.

What You Need

Pillar or votive candles (White or ivory are best)
Fall leaves, pressed flat in a book if necessary
Elmer's white glue
Junky small saucepan
About 1 ounce paraffin

What to Do

1. Attach leaves to candles with dabs of glue, just enough to hold them in place.

2. Melt paraffin in top of double boiler. Heat about 1 quart of water to boiling in junky pan. (Note: your pan should be several inches deep so you can easily dip the candles into it.) Remove water from heat, place pan on heatproof surface. Let cool slightly. Add paraffin to water.

3. Depending on the size of the candle, pick it up by its wick or use tongs to grasp the end and top of the candle, and dip it into the wax water. Make sure all part of the candle are covered in the thin wax layer.

4. Roll the candle on the heatproof surface to press the leaves and wax smoothly into the candle.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 again, if any spots were missed, or for a thicker encasement.

- Rocky Mountain News craft artist Jane Asper