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How To Add Images To Candles With A Heat Gun

By Wendi Wachtel

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.

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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

      Thanks so much Erin:) This is one of those projects that is so easy and turns out spectacular. Thanks so much for your visit!

  2. 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

    • 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!

    • Wendi says

      Hi Sandra and yes, it is a super way to jazz up a plain candle! This year I’m making several as gifts. Thanks so much for your visit!

    • 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:)

    • Wendi says

      Hi Michelle, You’re welcome 🙂 My printer is an inkjet, but I think if you secure the tissue paper well onto a cardstock or other firm “backing” either will work fine. Thanks so much for stopping by & leaving a note!

  9. 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!

    • 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.

    • Wendi says

      Hi Becky, The paper fuses into the wax of the candle so if you use colored paper it will show up. Have fun with the project!

  11. 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!!

    • 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!

        • 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!

    • 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!

  15. 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.

    • 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!

    • 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.

    • 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!

  19. Marie@The Interior Frugalista says

    Thank you so much for this awesome tutorial Wendi. I have several white pillar candles on my family room mantle and this would really add some punch to them. I’m so doing this TODAY! Thanks for the printables too. Love them!

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