How to Make Wax Covered Pine Cones!
by
Susan Myers
Medium
Wax covered pinecones make great decorations for the home, and are even useful as fireplace fire starters in the winter! You can make them in a multitude of colors to match any decor.
The Dollar Store offers pretty baskets, greenery and ribbons. All for a dollar! And the pine cones? Well, go check out the woods. Those are free! I colored these for the holidays, but you can make them any color you like.
The crayons are used for color, so choose what colors that you would like your pinecones to be and prepare the crayons by removing the paper. It will take 4-5 crayons per box of wax to achieve a good strong color. I chose to make red, green, blue and white pinecones.
Start by using your double boiler or in my case, I used two sauce pans inside each other. I put about 2″ of water in the bottom sauce pan and added a box of wax (cut in smaller pieces) to the top pan along with the red crayons. Allow the water to boil, and stir the wax until it has melted.
Cover your workspace with wax paper. Remove the pan from the heat. Allow it to cool for a few moments, then begin dipping the pinecones in the pan, coating them with a layer of wax.
At some point, your wax will get too cool to coat them properly. Just reheat the wax and repeat.
Repeat this process for each color. Be sure to clean all your utensils carefully between each color change so as not to contaminate your new color.
Remember that wax down the drain is not a good thing. In order to clean the utensils, I scraped as much as I could into the trash and then used hot water for any tiny bits left over.
This makes an awesome gift. Suggestions for variations would include adding a scent to the wax or placing cinnamon sticks in the basket along with the pinecones.
The baskets, kitchen towels and artificial greenery were all purchased from the Dollar Store.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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2 of 197 comments
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I will wrap a wick around the center of the cone and then dip them. This will help as a firestarter, you now have something to actually light. I might dip only twice if you want to have the option to use as a firstarter. They make awesome house warming or hostess gift baskets.
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I'll always loved these, but I have never made any. I will try this, thank you so much. I love pinecones.
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Could you use the color taper long style candles and melt them down instead of crayons ...