DIY Photo Candle Vase

This year for Christmas, I wanted to make all of my gifts.  Not only are they thoughtful and usually much more appreciated, they are much lighter on the wallet as well.  Others, namely coworkers of myself and significant other have asked if I would also make various items for them to give out at Christmas time, mostly personalized items with photos.

One particular person gave me quite the challenge with a photo that was a scan of a copy of a photo and because of this was very grainy and not easy to duplicate for use in my project.  Due to the sensitive nature behind the request, I was determined to come up with something that would beautifully exhibit this photo and make a wonderful gift.  I found several ideas on my favorite website, Pinterest and tried every one of them.  I tried transferring the image to a canvas using tissue paper and also regular printer paper and then rubbing it off with water to get a "faux grainy" look but since the original photo was already grainy and was hard to see.

Then I saw an idea on pinterest to do a transparent photo on a candle glass with no other instructions other than photo printed on vellum paper put on glass.  I tried several ways of attaching the printed vellum (which was a chore in and of itself) using modge podge and spray adhesive and all that did was make the corners curl and leave bubbles and wrinkles.  Next I found 8.5x11 sheets of clear printable inkjet sticker pages.  It was so easy, I just ran it through the printer, and slowly (needed two people for this) we wrapped the page around the vase, using the edge of a credit card as we went to smooth out bubbles and wrinkles.  It took several tries of attaching and unattaching the sticker to get it lined up right, but with patience, we managed it.

There are still a few very small bubbles and unavoidable wrinkles, but overall it worked out great.  The seam did not want to stick very well so I used modge podge along the edges which took a few days to dry, then added ribbon along the seam and across the top and bottom to hide the edges and wrinkles.

I put a tea light in the bottom and would almost prefer to use a non-flame candle such as those faux electric candles to avoid heating the glass and adhesive from the sticker, but so far the tea lights do not seem to be a problem.  The tealights are great too because they do not make a waxy mess inside the vase nor do they put off any black soot that can stain the inside of the glass.  The light from the candle really illuminates the image (which even looks great when its not lit).  Uunfortunately I didn't think to photo the process, but here is a picture of the result.