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How To Add Images To Candles With A Heat Gun

By Wendi Wachtel 79 Comments

I was super excited to receive my new HomeRight Digital Temperature Heat Gun. Oh…Yawn..you say? Like, what can you do with a heat gun? I’m so glad you asked because this new tool does lots of things from crafts to home improvement projects! Today, I’m going to share with you how to add images to candles. Using this technique, I turned plain white inexpensive candles into beautiful ones that look like they came from an upscale boutique. You can also add words to candles like I did here.


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These make great gifts!

This is a sponsored post by HomeRight. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep H2oBungalow going. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

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I started with my new heat gun. This isn’t just any old heat gun, it’s adjustable up to 1200° and has 3 fan speeds, several useful attachments and a sturdy storage case. All those features make it a super useful tool and eliminates the need to buy other tools that will do similar jobs! Chemical free paint removing, stubborn sticker removal, defrosting frozen pipes and crafty things like embossing, aging wood and…making upscale candles with images are just a few of the many jobs this heat gun can tackle!

 

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Let’s get started and I’ll show you how to add images to candles in a few easy steps.

This is what you’ll need to transfer an image onto a wax candle.

  • Plain tissue paper , the type used for gift wrapping
  • Tape, I used painters tape
  • Piece of card stock or heavy paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches
  • Wax paper
  • Image, your own or my free downloadable ones below 🙂

Tools needed for this project.

Start by cutting your tissue paper the size of your paper. Notice that the tissue paper has a shiny and a matte side. You’ll want to print on the matte side. Tape the top of your tissue paper to your card stock shiny side down. The card stock gives your tissue paper enough structure to be printed on, otherwise you’d have a wadded up mess in your printer 🙁

Print your image onto your paper and trim around the image edges. If you’re not sure which side of the paper your printer will print on (top or bottom), print a test sheet first.

 

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Cut a piece of waxed paper large enough to go around your candle with enough extra to hold onto. Place your image with the matte side facing out onto your candle and wrap your wax paper around it. Next, with the waxy side of the wax paper facing the candle, heat the image at about 190° using the wide directional attachment on the heat gun. I kept mine at about 1 1/2 – 2 inches away from the candle.

As soon as you see your image brighten, it’s been fused to the candle. Continue to quickly move on to the next area of the image. On a small candle, this process takes less than a minute. As soon as you’ve fused all of your image, carefully pull back your waxed paper.

 

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That’s it! You’ve just learned how to add images to candles:)

They look awesome, don’t they? You can’t see the tissue paper at all, it’s completely transparent.

 

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Almost any graphic will work with this technique. Photos and vintage images can make a plain candle upscale. Just for fun try something with color. I created these images for the holidays with garland, pinecones and a few of my favorite holiday words. You can download each image I used below. Click here to download all three graphics. Please note they are intended for personal use only.

 

Peace_butoonCandle_Image_Joy_3inch-H2OBungalow Joy buttonNoel Button

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Are you loving this project? I sure am! Be sure to check back here next Monday. I have another crazy fun project to share using my new HomeRight Digital Temperature Heat Gun!

Seriously…you’ll WANT to see this!

…and NO, I’m not giving any hints away!

 Now that I’ve shared how easy it is to add images to candles with my new HomeRight Digital Heat Gun are you ready to try this yourself?

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I love the HomeRight brand for the quality, features they include and the durability they build into their products. Why do I say this? Because aside from having fun with holiday crafts, we use our tools on our home. Living in a project house that we are renovating gives us plenty of opportunity to try lots of products. We only recommend the ones we’d purchase ourselves!

Want more information on HomeRight’s Digital Temperature Heat Gun or any other HomeRight products?

As you might have guessed this is a sponsored post, I was provided product and /or compensated for sharing this information. All opinions, craftiness and projects are 100% my own and I’ll only share items I think have value for my readers!

 

This project was featured on

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Wendi says

      Hi Annette, That’s a very good question. I think if you used white tissue paper on a colored candle it probably would show up. But, if you incorporated having a white background into your graphic that could be a cool effect. I’d suggest having fun and trying out a few different papers and candle colors to see what you like. Thanks so much for stopping by and have fun with your project!

      Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Sam and thank you so much! I love this project too, it turned out so beautifully and makes the best gifts! Thanks so much for your note & visit!

      Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Debra and thank you! I totally agree and would love to see this project with a pretty spring print or other holiday. I feel in love with how easy it was to make this candle project. Thanks so much for your visit and Happy Holidays!

      Reply

  4. Christina says

    Helping a friend, with a completely unrelated use of heat, I had to figure out the highest temperature output for a couple hair dryers. To measure, I used a meat thermometer, about 4-6 inches from the business end of the hair dryers we were checking. And even with basic models of inexpensive hair dryers that we checked, on high, we were breaking 200 degrees easily. I don’t see why a hair dryer would not work for this project but you may want to check your distance from the candle because 4 to 6 in away from the blower was over 200 degrees and you don’t want to melt a flat spot in your pretty candle.

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Christina and thanks for the info. Yes, a blow dryer may work just fine depending on the unit. Candles do melt quickly which is what you want when doing this project. It only take seconds which I think I mention exactly how many for the image to melt into the candle. It’s a quick process overall 🙂 Thanks so much for your visit and sharing your info!

      Reply

  5. Pauline Starkweather says

    Wendy
    I would love to do these candles but can’t find out how to get the transfers to put on the candles. Noel Peace etc.
    I love these candles and would love to make them for my mantle.
    Pauline

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Pauline, I have links to download the graphics in the post. All you need to do is save them and then follow the tutorial and print them on tissue paper. I’m sure your candle project will turn out beautifully! Good luck and hope this info helps!

      Reply

      • Pauline Starkweather says

        Wendi, I cannot figure out where to go to download the graphics for this project.
        Please help with the links. Sometimes I think I need directions for dummies.
        Pauline

        Reply

        • Wendi says

          No worries Pauline. See where it says to click on the graphic (picture) to download that printable graphic? Under that sentence there is a small version of each of the graphics I used. Just click on the picture and save the pdf file to your computer. I hope that helps. I can email the files to you if you’re having trouble saving them, just let me know!

          Reply

          • Pauline Starkweather says

            Wendi,
            Got it, just didn’t go down far enough to see them. I have a mac so just put them on my desktop to put in my photos for future use.
            Thanks so much
            These candles will look lovely on my mantle.
            Pauline

  7. Debra Poe says

    I have one of the Embossing hot guns.. The older models. Will it work just as well doing the projects? Thanks.

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Debra, It can’t hurt to try! If it gets hot enough it probably will. Some of my readers have been using hairdryers with good success. Have fun with your project!

      Reply

  8. Denise says

    I have used this idea in the past and it is still a favorite of mine, wanted to ask i love your graphic but would like to use it with different words but the same font as you used. Any chance you could share the file without the words? Also any chance you could let us know what font you used? thank you in advance, love your candles.

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Denise. Like you, I love this project. I don’t have the graphic without the words though:( I made it using PicMonkey I think it was with the free version at the time. You can find it at pickmonkey.com if you’re not familiar with it. I believe the components were the wreath, font and a few other small items like pinecones from the graphic library. I don’t remember the font, but you’ll see it. Good luck and have fun!

      Reply

  11. Lorelai @ Life With Lorelai says

    Hey, Wendi! Just wanted to let you know that we loved your How To Add Images To Candles so much when you shared it at the #HomeMattersParty last week, we’ve FEATURED it THIS WEEK! Hope you can check it out when you get a sec! Happy Friday!!!

    ~Lorelai
    Life With Lorelai / Home Matters Linky Party

    Reply

  14. Gina says

    This is such a cool project! I make my own candles with old jars a lot of the time. This could be a really interesting new direction to take that tired out craft. Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to look into heat guns.

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Nana… I KNOW, how fun is this project! I’m making more this year too. I had no idea the heat gun was as usefula as this one has been. The things we learn in DIY… LOL Maybe you could ut it on your Christmas wish list;) Thank you so much for your visit!

      Reply

  17. Mimi says

    Hi Wendi. I adore black and white and this gorgeous graphic is perfect for my holiday décor, so thankyou! I’d love you to come and share this at my Five Star Frou-Frou linkup. We’d love to host you. Love, Mimi xxx

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Mimi, Thank you. It is a beautiful graphic. I love all three of them! I’ll do my best to make it to your link up:) Thanks so much for your visit!

      Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Jacquie… and thank you. To answer your question, I don’t use acid free tissue paper. This was regular old white tissue paper from the dollar store:)

      Reply

  24. Peggy Couture says

    I love this idea. Thank you so much for the printables I used them and they came out beautiful. I did mine using a hairdryer on high setting since I didn’t want to purchase a heat gun. I also tried a color picture it came out great. This is going to come in handy for many gifts. Thank you again you’re a genius!

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Peggy…You’re welcome and so glad you liked my tutorial! There are so many different type of pictures and graphics that would work on the candles.

      Reply

  26. Barb says

    These are just beautiful! I’m not craft at all, but I want to try these. Here is my question, hopefully I’m not being a total dummy. but HOW do you get the image to print on the tissue paper without jamming your printing. I’m assuming you used a standard PC printer?

    Doesn’t the tape get “stuck” or am I being reaaally dense here 🙂

    Thank you!!

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Hi Barb! Not a silly question at all. Take a look at the photos in my post again and you’ll see that I used painters tape to hold it onto a heavy weight paper. I cut the tape it in half and ran a strip along the top and bottom of my card stock. It ran through the printer just fine. Have fun with the project & thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

        • Wendi says

          Hi Kelsey, That’s a really good question and I don’t have an exact answer since I made this project on my laser printer. I think if the tissue paper was firmly taped to the bottom page either would work. I’d say try it and see. Good luck!

          Reply

    • Wendi says

      Thanks so much Vanessa! It is one of the easiest projects but the finished project looks so good! Try it ,I’m sure you’ll create something spectacular!

      Reply

  30. Christa says

    Can you actually burn the candle? That would be very important to me.
    Would a hairdryer do it?
    Thanks for sharing! Eager to hear the answer.

    Reply

    • Wendi says

      Yes, you can still burn your candle ad long as it’s a pillar candle where the outer edges don’t burn or melt. I don’t about using a hairdryer I suppose if the heat setting was high enough it might work. Try it and see!

      Reply

    • Wendi says

      Thank you Susan! I love my new heat gun and have a few more ideas for other uses I can’t wait to try out! Thank you so much for your visit & comment.

      Reply

    • Wendi says

      Using a hair dryer has been a popular question! I don’t know the answer. My heat gun was set to almost 200 degrees for this project, I’m not sure how hot a hair dryer gets. If it doesn’t work, HomeRight has several heat guns that are pretty inexpensive. You cand find their links in my post. Thanks for your visit and comment!

      Reply

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