Most "straight sided" votive holders are actually slightly tapered toward the base; this project will allow you to create a perfect fit for your glass votive holders!
Materials Needed:
- clear glass votive holder ("straight" sided)
- votive candle
- pen or pencil
- regular office paper
- ruler or other straight edge
- regular "clear" vellum paper
- normal clear office tape
- double sided tape
- scissors
- *option #1 = home computer with a scanner, inkjet printer, and MS Word or similar program
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*option #2 = rubber stamp and ink pad
1) Take a normal sheet of 8.5"x11" office paper and either fold it or cut it in half along its width.
2) Wrap the 1/2 sheet of paper around the votive holder, hold in place with your hand.
3) With your other hand, use a pen or pencil to trace the top rim of the votive holder onto the paper. Hold the paper in place repeat the trace for the base of the holder.
4) Lay the paper flat and use a ruler or other straight edge to connect the outlines of the top and bottom traces.
5) Cut out the cover along the pen/pencil lines. Wrap the cutout around your votive cover and secure with normal clear office tape. You will notice that the seam runs at a funky angle up the holder (I darkened the edge so it is easier to see) - you can either leave the seam like this or straighten it with the next steps...
6) Slide the cover off of the holder leaving the taped seam intact.
7) Use a pair of scissors to cut the cover perpendicular to the top/bottom edges. This will be your new straight seam for the cover shape!
8) Lay the cover shape out flat. Notice that the top and bottom edges are slightly curved. It should look something like this:
*** at this point you can either use this shape as a template to trace onto pre-patterned papers, or use a rubber stamp and ink pad to add a design to some vellum.
*** or follow the next steps to digitize the template for use with digital graphics:
9) Before placing the cover shape onto the scanner, use a marker to darken the edges so the scanner will be sure to register the full shape. Scan the cover shape and save to your computer as an image (I use a JPEG format).
10) Open a new Microsoft Word document and insert the scanned image.
11) Use the drawing toolbar to trace the cover shape. I used the curve pen for the top and bottom edges and the straight pen for the side seams. Once the lines are drawn, you may want to increase the line width and change the line color so that it is easier to see.
12) Delete the scanned image. You should only have the drawn lines left. Select all the lines, right-click and choose "Group". This will make all the lines into one object.
13) Insert a image of your choice to be used as the cover design. This could be a pretty pattern, a monogram, or you can create a text box to make this into a votive place card or favor.
This example uses a damask JPEG that can be copied from the Project Wedding Guide article http://www.projectwedding.com/wiki/show/damask-files
If the image inserts on top of your cover shape, right-click the image and choose "Send to Back". You may need to move, resize, or crop your image.
14) Group your image and the cover shape. Now you can copy and paste the pair until your page is full. Test your print out on regular office paper to make sure your printer margins aren't cutting off any of your hard work. My printer margins allow me to create 3 covers per sheet of 8.5"x11" paper.
15) Load one sheet of clear vellum paper into your printer. Change your print settings to accommodate photo or glossy paper. This setting on an inkjet printer will lay down less ink so it doesn't smear. Use one sheet of vellum at a time to allow the ink to dry. Let each vellum sheet dry a few minutes before handling.
16) Use scissors to cut out the printed vellum covers along your drawn lines.
17) Affix the vellum cover to your glass votive holder using double-sided tape or similar adhesive.
18) Insert a votive or tea-light candle, light the candle, and VIOLA!
