June Guest - 'A Moth to the Flame' by Lucy Edmondson

For my final guest posting, and my contribution to the 'June Bug' challenge theme, I thought I would use the imagery of Icarus as my winged creature. I have always loved the story, and this Icarus stamp by Lost Coast Designs is so perfect, the way he seems to be falling through the sky. I wanted to continue the imagery by using a candle, to represent the wax which held his feathered wings together, and the light from the candle as the warmth of the sun he is drawn towards, like a moth to the flame.

This is a very simple make, but I think stamped candles make such a quick but appealing gift. First of all I tore a strip of tissue paper with wavy edges and dabbed it with Ultramarine, Azure, and Teal Staz On inks to represent the sea. I cut a rough semi circle of tissue and dabbed it with Mustard and Pumpkin StazOn to represent the sun, and lightly adhered these to the candle as shown, using the tiniest dab of matte medium. I stamped Icarus on tissue with Black StazOn and coloured him on the reverse with pencils, cut him out, and added him to the candle by the same method. You only need to hold the pieces in place long enough to melt the wax. I tore a strip of wax paper the same height as the candle but a little wider so I could wrap it around tightly with an overlap to hold it by. I then applied the heat gun, moving it on to another section as soon as the images started to become transparent, and then removed the wax paper. My friend, Jack, who taught me how to decorate candles gave me a tip. If there are any lumpy areas where a blob of wax has melted, warm a metal palette knife in boiling water and smooth it over the bump.

I then made a matching tag out of shrink plastic. Sorry, but I do love my shrink plastic! I stamped Icarus onto frosted shrink plastic using Jet Black Stazon, cut a tag shape, punched a hole, and coloured the image on the reverse with Pro Markers, adding the sun and the sea. I kept the colours very pale as I wanted them to intensify after shrinking to match the main images on the candle. After shrinking with the heat tool, I ran a gold pen around the edge.

To present my gift, I wanted to wrap it in cellophane but I couldn't find my roll, so I used an A4 size self-seal bag, the kind you buy to sell your cards in. I folded the adhesive edges at the top and twisted them, and tied the twist with twine. I threaded the tag through and tied a bow. Once I had done this I realized I had stamped Icarus in a different orientation to the image on the candle, but I decided this happy accident added to the sense of him tumbling through the sky, and plummeting into the sea.

I hope you like my 'Moth to the Flame' and that you will join in this month's challenge if you haven't done so already - there's a great prize!

Thank you so much for your kind support of me and lovely comments during my guest appearance. I have appreciated it so much.