I had planned to make some tealight candle holders as extra Christmas gifts for friends and family, but I failed miserably. How hard can it be to make glass mosaic tealight candle holders? Well, a lot harder than I originally thought. Perhaps if I’d conducted a little research on YouTube for some general tips, I would have fared a lot better.
My first mistake was to use round a round glass container (standard drinking glass) as opposed to hexagonal. Why, because the hexagonal shape gives defined edges. The curved substrate, no.
The second mistake was to cut the glass pieces too large so the sharp edges protruded from the curve of the glass.
So after gluing all the mosaic onto the glass substrates they looked like this when lit. Not great!
**
While I’m going to keep these for myself, I’m still debating whether to grout as it covers a multitude of defects or leave natural. Then comes the dilema red or black. Decisions, decisions.
Piglet in Portugal 
Oh what a shame about the pointy bits because they look lovely with the lit candle! I’d still grout them and use them to experiment with colouring your grout 😊 The positive – we learn the most from our fails! I had another recently too lol. I just need to regrout though, so not too bad!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, tis true. From the ashes of failure we build success.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like you mosaic candle holders. I think they have a rustic charm.
LikeLiked by 1 person
*laughing* a rustic charm covers a multitude of sins 🙂
LikeLike
What a pity Carole, because of all the wasted time. They still look nice 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a learning curve, Sami. I’m now itching to find some different glass tumbler so I can perfect the process.
LikeLike
I think they’re very prretty, but how would you smooth away the rough edges so that you don’t cut yourself?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tried smoothing the rough edges with a file but it did not work as the tiles started to ‘pop’ off under pressure. They are only ornaments so when I’ve mastered the technique I’ll probably throw them away. I’m annoyed as each took several hours to make.
LikeLike
Such a shame.
LikeLike