Learn how to make colorful stained glass candle holders with this easy step-by-step glass art craft tutorial.
Faux-stained glass candle holders are beautiful handpainted crafts for kids and adults to make that are so vibrant and colorful that they look just like real stained glass! Creating realistic stained glass effects with glass paint is a simple hack that has a gorgeous result. This makes DIY candle holder crafts lovely home decor and an excellent handmade gift idea. You might also enjoy this list of DIY gifts kids can make for parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers, and friends.
Faux stained glass candle holders offer a creative and accessible way for craft enthusiasts of all ages to bring the vibrant, light-filtering beauty of stained glass into their homes without needing specialized equipment or materials. First published on November 21, 2017; this faux stained glass craft project is regularly updated and republished to improve the content. For more candle holder craft ideas, look at this list of handpainted candle holder ideas even kids can make.
The realistic stained glass square votives in the photograph below are beautiful pieces of glass art that make lovely DIY decor and a unique homemade gift idea that even kids can make. However, there are several more creative ideas you can use to make stained glass candle holders and votive options besides the square candle holders shown. You can even upcycle glass containers from the recycle bin. Scroll down to learn more!
Easy Stained Glass Candle Holder Craft Project
Creating stained glass effects is a delightful way to decorate square votives and other glass jars, bottles, and containers to make candle holders. This DIY project allows for a wide range of artistic expression because you can fashion these pieces of colored glass art in thousands of ways. For example, we upcycled the colored glass square votives you see in the photographs for this post.
We originally bought them to decorate tables at our DIY wedding in 2012. Afterward, I’ve come up with several ways to upcycle and reuse them, because that’s what I do! This is just one of the many DIY candle holder ideas my daughter and I have come up with. You might also enjoy making personalized candle holders with glass paint. A few more brilliant ways to decorate and reuse square glass votive candle holders are listed at the bottom of this post.
Using a glass bottle, or jar, Instead of votives to make a stained glass candle holder:
Another great idea is to upcycle glass bottles, jars, and other containers from the recycle bin for this stained glass candle holder project. Or use a small glass or mason jar. Just make sure the glass is tempered so it doesn’t break when it gets hot if you plan to use it as a candle holder. Candle holders get hot when a candle is lit inside. Use tempered glass to make candle holders to help prevent accidents.
No matter what container you use or the design you create on DIY stained glass candle holders. This faux-stained glass craft is guaranteed to add a touch of warmth and color to any room as it adds a soft glowing light to any space. Whether you’re a seasoned crafter or a beginner looking for a fun and rewarding project, making faux stained glass candle holders is a fantastic way to explore creativity while producing beautiful, functional art.
Learn more about glass paint projects with the frequently asked questions below. Or, scroll past the remaining FAQs to learn how to make a stained glass votive candle holder with the step-by-step instructions in the next section. You might also enjoy making Sea Glass DIY Wind Chimes.
How do you color glass candle holders?
If you have ever wondered how to color glass, or what kind of paint to use on glass candle holders to change the color, glass paint is the answer. Painting glass with glass paint is a simple way to color or dye glass of any kind, including candle holders! Especially if you want to make specific designs with multi-colored details, or only add color to a small area.
What is glass paint?
Glass paint is a specialized type of paint specifically designed for use on glass and other non-porous surfaces. It is formulated to adhere well to glass, providing a durable and often translucent finish that mimics the look of stained glass when light passes through it. Using glass paint allows for personalized designs that can transform ordinary glass items, and even plastics into gorgeous works of art.
Glass paints come in various types, including solvent-based, water-based, and acrylics, each offering different qualities regarding opacity, drying time, and ease of use. The glass paint recommended for this project does not need to be baked. But care does need to be taken when an item with glass paint on it is washed. So, don’t put glass projects painted with it in the dishwasher.
One also needs to be aware that these glass paints can fade when placed in direct sunlight for an extended period. The heat from candles over time can also cause the colors to fade a bit. However, repainting them every so often to replace the bright hues is easy and quick.
How do you make a stained glass candle holder?
If you have ever asked yourself this question, you will love this simple stained-glass candle holder hack. By using readily available supplies such as glass jars, square votives, liquid leading (or a raised black outliner), and glass paint, individuals can craft personalized and colorful candle holders that mimic traditional stained glass’s intricate patterns and glowing ambiance.
Using glass paint to create the look of stained glass is a simple process. The unique formulation of glass paint ensures that it can create effects that are difficult to achieve with regular paints, making it a popular choice for projects involving glass. This makes glass paint an excellent art medium for various crafts and DIY projects, including decorating windows, vases, jars, and candle holders, such as the colored glass square votives shown in this post and the collection of DIY candle holder ideas—> HERE.
It’s easy to use glass paint along with the lead-free liquid liner or outliner, but just like making real stained glass, it’s not very quick. It takes a bit of time to allow the liquid (lead-free) leading or outliner to dry completely on votive holders before adding glass paint. Click HERE for another stained glass candle holder craft project that uses glass paint without the liquid leading if you want to make a quicker candle holder craft.
Or, scroll down for step-by-step instructions to make DIY stained glass candle holders like those shown in the photographs. Or, instead of the lines and swirling designs shown in the photographs, create other interesting designs with the liquid leading or black outliner to fill in with glass paint. The only limits are those of your imagination!
Faux Stained Glass Candle Holder Craft Supplies:
- Warm soapy water, rubbing alcohol, or witch hazel
- Square votive candle holders (or use a mason jar or a recycled tempered glass bottle, jar, or container)
- Glass paint
- Liquid leading or outliner (alternatively you can use black glue made by mixing a little black acrylic paint into a small bottle of white glue as instructed HERE.)
- Paintbrush set
- Painting smocks for kids
- Quality beeswax tealight candles or votive candles [to complete the gift or DIY home decor]
- Or fill stained glass votives and other candle holders with incense cones.
Related: Tons of Fun Arts and Crafts for Kids and Teens
How to Make Faux-Stained Glass Candle Holders: Step-by-step DIY Craft Project tutorial
This faux stained glass project is not something I recommend sitting down to do all at once. It is beneficial to allow sufficient drying time for the liquid (lead-free) leading outline before adding glass paint according to the directions below.
If you are assisting a young child, I recommend breaking the project into bite-sized steps that you tackle over several days. My preschool daughter and I spent ten to fifteen minutes painting the colored glass candle holders shown in the photographs over several days. In other words, we did not paint them all at once. Instead, we painted one side at a time by working on the project for a short time over several days. We did this for two primary reasons. First, the project’s materials and nature are better served with ample drying time between each step in the process.
The second reason we worked on this project in short stints is because of the age of my daughter at the time. Staying focused and working on a project for an extended period is not something most toddlers and preschoolers are good at. Each step is quick and easy, but there can be a lot of downtime to wait for drying if you choose to work on one one side at a time as we did. So, make sure to give yourself plenty of time to complete this project if you plan to give it as a gift. Especially if you are painting candle holders with your children or students.
1. Clean the glass with water and soap or rubbing alcohol.
- Use warm soapy water, rubbing alcohol, or witch hazel and a washcloth, rag, or cotton ball to clean the surface of the glass candle holder (bottle, jar, or another container you want to make into a candle holder.)
- How to clean glass before painting it:
- Wash with warm soapy water or, dampen a cloth or cotton ball with rubbing alcohol or witch hazel.
- Wipe the glass with the damped rag or cotton ball to clean it and or dry it.
2. Create a pattern with liquid leading on the Candle Holder
- Use liquid leading or black glass paint outliner to make lines and designs on the glass in any way you like.
- In the photographs, you can see that we made one candle holder with strips of lines, and another with squiggly lines, but there are thousands of ways you can use liquid leading or a black outline pen to create raised designs on the glass before adding color.
- A few more design ideas you can try are painting a heart outline on one of the glass sidewalls of a square votive, a heart on each side of the candle holder, or several hearts on each glass wall. You can even personalize them!
- Or, use the leading to draw an outline of a sun, flower, butterfly, ladybug, bunny, rainbow, fish, sailboat, your favorite team logo, or any other simple design you can think of.
- Younger artists will need an adult’s assistance to complete this step.
- Allow 12-48 hours drying time.
- Unless you are an advanced artist or crafter, we recommend waiting for both the liquid leading or outline, and the glass paint between the sides to dry one by one unless you are only working on one side of a square votive. Or a glass paint project with only one design on it.
Why do we recommend giving ample drying time for glass paint projects?
- It’s a lot easier to paint with glass paint on a flat surface. So, laying the votive, (candle holder, glass jar, or bottle) on one side, as shown in the photo tutorial below, makes it a lot easier to draw lines or create a design with the leading or outliner.
- Laying it down also makes it possible to add a thick layer of glass paint to the candle holder craft. As is required to make a candle holder look like real stained glass like the one in the photo below.
3. Paint candle holder with glass paint
- Complete the design on each candle holder by painting it with glass paint. This will look different depending on your design. Follow the general guidelines below:
- If you make stained glass candle holders like those shown in the photographs, paint between the leading lines or outline previously added to the candle holders to fill in the design as shown in the photo tutorial below.
- Add paint to a simple design, such as a heart, by dabbing glass paint in a thick layer to fill it in.
- Other designs might require painting both inside and outside of the design depending on the intended glass candle holder craft project outcome or personal preference.
- Glass paint needs to be painted on thick, or it’s hard to see.
- This is usually not a problem if you have children helping you like I did, because they tend to load their brushes with too much paint–lol! Which for this project, is a good thing!
- Allow time to dry in between coats for best results.
4. Put a candle in the stained glass votive.
- Once the stained glass votive has had time to dry, put a quality tea light candle, votive candle, or even an incense cone inside of it to complete the DIY home decor or gift.
- This colored glass votive craft also makes a great remote control caddy. My husband loves the stained glass candle holder his daughter made him by his side when it’s movie time, otherwise, he loses the volume control!
- When choosing a candle, we recommend using a beeswax tealight in a metal cup because they are easy to clean and switch out for a new one when it needs to be replaced. Unlike votive candles that melt and cover the bottom and become challenging to clean to use again.
- We also recommend using beeswax over paraffin or soy because of its many health benefits.
- Research proves that beeswax candles emit negative ions when burned, which can help purify the air by neutralizing pollutants, reducing allergens and dust, and promoting overall respiratory health. They are also shown to improve mood.
- Light candles not only because they emit a warm subtle and colorful glow, but to derive the health benefits mentioned above.
Step-by-Step Stained Glass Candle Holder Craft Photo Tutorial
Look at the photos in the tutorial below to see the steps of this glass paint craft process in action.
Homemade Stained Glass Candle Holder crafts
Creating the look of stained glass with glass paint turns out beautifully. These unique candle holders make fantastic gifts that even kids can make! For more hand-painted candle holder ideas, click HERE.
Don’t forget to pop over to have a look at more beautiful kid-made Gift ideas; click HERE! For more gift-giving ideas, check out our Ultimate Gift Guide with DIY and Readymade Ideas for the Whole Family!
Colored Glass Paint Candle Holder Ideas that look like Stained Glass
- Hand Painted Candle Holders
- Fingerprint Flower Candle Holder Crafts
- Candle Holder Craft Painted with a Heart
- Personalized DIY Heart Candle Holders
- Candle Holder Crafts Painted with Hearts
- Mother’s Day Candle Holder Ideas
- Father’s Day Candle Holder Ideas
christina says
Very pretty! When the candle is inside does it reflect the pattern in color on the surrounding surface like with a real stained glass container does?
Nell Regan Kartychok says
Thank you Christina! Yes, when a candle is inside it reflects the pattern and color on the surrounding surface just like real stained glass. You can see an example of this in out Personalized Heart Candle Holder tutorial. However, many glass paints fade a bit in response to large amounts of sunlight or candlelight. So, my daughter re-painted one of the heart candles she made because it faded in the sun sitting on the windowsill in her bedroom. She found it a simple and enjoyable fix because we have a supply of glass paint in our craft room, and all it required was adding a bunch of color back into the outline. Easy peasy. Happy faux-stained glass crafting!