Slash and Burn Candle Kit

 

I made it with FIRE! 

We have a local art gallery to us called The Beetroot Tree which hosts work from very talented artists (including some of my good friends), holds craft workshops, and has a lovely cafe that sells our local bluebells icecream. All in all its a lovely little place which I have to admit I don't visit nearly often enough, especially now one of my friends no longer works there. 

  

In addition to all the lovely things above they also sell some craft kits and supplies. This little kit for a candle surround was gifted to me a while ago and I never got around to giving it a go, well today I did :) The kit was put together by Alysn Midgelow-Marsden and requires you to layer pieves of mesh fabric over one another, do some basic sewing, and then my favorite of all craft mediums - burn it!

So as you can see I have some layers above and I have sewn some wobbly lines of bead on to the top of the layers. I then cut between the layers exposing the metal mesh backing. This is when you get to use the fire! You now hold the piece over a naked flame (not too close otherwise it will burn/set on fire), but as you do, the edges wrinkle up and leave an amazing effect behind which you can see below.

Finally you sew the two ends together to make a circle and place it over a candle glass. The final effect is beautiful, even with little experience, as I really had no idea what I was doing when I started this off! You can see all the layers of different coloured mesh which I really like. The beads add a nice sense of structure and focal point to the design and the fact that it is clear so the light shines through is lovely. This is one of those things that you make and then instantly wish you had another so you can give it another go. In hindsight I think I would have added a lot more lines to make the gaps between the sections minimal. But I am really pleased with how this came out :)

Have you purchased any craft kits recently? I am always on the lookout for trying new things out so I would love to hear your favourites if you do.