Candle lettering

Design your own personalized candle

During the long dark winter months, our cozy homes become a safe haven – one to decorate beautifully.
Franzi from dieKunstliebe shows you how to personalize candles with handlettering and stamps. This technique is also perfect for decorating Advent candles.


You will need the following materials for decorating your candle:

For the stamped version, you will also need:


Step 1: Sketch out your lettering

Sketch out your lettering first with a pencil. I like to use the MONO graph for this as I can precisely draw all the little details. If you don’t like something, it’s really easy to erase it with the MONO dustCATCH.

My Tip: Measure the area of the candle you want to decorate, and draw it out on the paper for your sketch. This way, your design won’t be too big or too small.

 

Step 2: Finalize your lettering

Now you can go over your lettering with the Fudenosuke Brush Pen. As an alternative to brush lettering, you can use the MONO drawing pen, tip size 3, to letter your design in faux calligraphy. (More information on faux calligraphy can be found here.)

Once you’ve finished, hold up your lettering to the candle to see if you’re happy with the size.

Step 3: Transfer the lettering to the tissue paper

Place your tissue paper over the lettering with the smooth side facing up. Staple or tape it in place so your sketch doesn’t slip.

Tip: The MONO PN-MK is perfect for this, as you can easily remove it!

Trace over the lettering with your Fudenosuke. Once you’re finished, cut your lettering out. You need to cut exactly along the edge of the letters so as not to have any unsightly borders.

 

It’s even easier to decorate candles with stamps. Choose your favorite color ABT Dual Brush Pen. Apply the ink to the blending palette and use it like a stamp pad. You can stamp directly onto the smooth side of the tissue paper.

Step 4: Fix the tissue paper in place

Place your tissue paper onto the candle with the smooth side facing up. Make sure you don’t apply it the wrong way round! Place the tissue paper on the candle smoothly without any wrinkles. When you’re happy with the position, put a sheet of parchment over the top and wrap it around the candle, stapling it tightly in place.

 

Step 5: Apply heat

Using the blow-dryer, you can now “glue” the lettering on the tissue paper to the candle. The wax will melt slightly, making the tissue paper stick. Keep the blow-dryer moving so that the wax melts gently and evenly. The letters that have bonded to the wax properly will look darker.

My Tip:You can smooth out any wrinkles with your hand or fingers as you go.

 

Step 6: Leave it to cool

Once all the lettering has darkened, leave the candle to cool and then gently remove the parchment. The tissue paper has now bonded completely to the candle. Your personalized DIY project is finished and you now have a wonderful Christmas present for someone you love.

 

Try it out yourself right now and share your candle creations with the Tombow family using the hashtag #tombowinspiration.


About the author

Franziska Deißler

- Die Kunstliebe

Franzi loves all the beautiful things that you can design yourself. Whether creating your own personal birthday gifts, cards, packagings, posters, or designing and enhancing decorations and home furnishings: Her passion for this knows no limits. She fell in love with the “art of beautiful writing” back in 2016 and, in addition to commissioned work for companies, she passes along her knowledge in hand lettering workshops all around Frankfurt.


Discover more lettering tutorials!