DIY Christmas Candle Holders

How do you make DIY Christmas candle holders from recycled jars?

These candle holders turn recycled glass jars and an offcut of tree branch into something that dresses a Christmas table or an entryway. The whole project rests on one bond — glass to timber — and Selleys Power Grip is the adhesive that handles it.

Total working time is under half an hour. The bond, however, keeps developing for considerably longer, and that is the part worth planning around.

What you need

• Recycled glass jars
• Selleys Power Grip
• A dried tree branch
• A hand saw
• Ribbon and decorations

Steps

1. Set yourself up with a bench to cut on.
2. Using your hand saw, cut through the branch to create timber coasters that act as the base for each glass jar. Around 15mm thick is ideal.
3. Apply Selleys Power Grip to the bottom of the jar and press the glass onto the timber coaster for about a minute, to allow maximum contact. The glue sets in approximately three minutes, but practical strength is usually achieved within 12 hours.
4. Dress the jar with ribbon: place a small blob of glue on the glass to start, wrap the ribbon around the jar, and finish with some glue to fix the two ends together.
5. Fix on the decorations with glue to finish.

What the Power Grip figures mean for this project

Technology	High strength household glue
Setting time	3 minutes
Initial bond time	12 hours
Colour	Transparent with a yellow tinge
Service temperature	-15°C to +120°C
Pack sizes	4g, 5g, 8g, 10g and 20g tubes

Indicative data only, not intended for the preparation of specifications.

The three-minute set and the 12-hour bond are two different things. At three minutes the jar will stay where you put it. Practical strength on porous surfaces such as wood and ceramics is usually achieved within 12 hours — so make these the day before the table goes out, not an hour before guests arrive.

Glass is not porous, and that changes the timing. Selleys' technical data specifies allowing longer times for non-porous surfaces such as metals and plastics. A jar-to-timber joint has one porous face and one that is not, so give it the full 12 hours at minimum before you treat it as strong.

There is a useful trick for exactly this case: to reduce set times on non-porous surfaces, keep the surfaces apart for 30 seconds before bringing them together. Apply the glue to the jar base, wait half a minute, then press it onto the timber for the minute the guide specifies.

Power Grip is extremely flexible and shock and impact resistant, and bends on impact rather than shattering. That is a genuinely useful property for something with a candle in it that gets moved around a table — a brittle bond would fail on the first knock.

It sticks to metals, wood, ceramic, stone, brick, concrete, masonry, glass, foam, leather, laminate, fibreglass, vinyl, fabric, cardboard and most plastics, which covers both the jar and whatever decorations you are adding.

Limitations — what to be aware of

• Not for polyethylene or polypropylene plastics. If your decorations are one of those, use Selleys All Plastics instead.
• Not for permanent water immersion. Not an issue for a candle holder, but worth knowing if you reuse the technique on something that lives outdoors in the wet.
• It will yellow on direct exposure to UV. The glue is transparent with a yellow tinge to start with, and prolonged sunlight deepens that. Keep the visible glue lines small, and expect a holder that sits in a sunny window to age.
• Service temperature is -15°C to +120°C. That is comfortably above anything a candle holder should reach — but the point of a holder is that the flame stays inside the glass. Use candles that sit well down inside the jar, never let a flame reach the rim, and never leave a burning candle unattended.

Application and clean up

Ensure the surfaces to be bonded are clean and dry before you start — a jar straight out of the recycling has a food film on it that will undermine the bond, so wash and dry it thoroughly first.

Power Grip cures rapidly, so wipe the nozzle clean and replace the cap tightly immediately after use, and store the tube upright in a cool dry place. Clean up before the adhesive sets with turps or acetone. Cured product can be sanded and scraped.

Safety: a craft glue with a Danger signal word, and a candle

Selleys Power Grip looks like an ordinary household glue and it is not classified as Dangerous Goods for transport, but it carries the signal word Danger. The reason is the eyes.

H318 — causes serious eye damage (Category 1). Not irritation that passes: Category 1 means the effect is not assumed to reverse. It also carries H317 (may cause an allergic skin reaction, skin sensitisation Category 1A), H315 (causes skin irritation) and H335 (may cause respiratory irritation).

Read H318 against step 3 and step 4. Pressing a glass jar onto a timber coaster, then blobbing glue onto glass to start a ribbon wrap, is close fiddly work with a hand-squeezed tube held near your face. A tube warmed in a pocket releases faster than expected, and a part-blocked nozzle spits when it clears. Point the nozzle away from your face, wear eye protection, and if children are helping, the adult does the gluing. A splash needs a 15-minute flush and a Poisons Information call, not a rinse.

H317 at Category 1A is the more severe sensitisation sub-category, and a batch of candle holders is exactly the exposure pattern that acquires it — many small finger contacts in one sitting, wiped off on a cloth each time. Sensitisation is permanent once it develops. Gloves, and wash hands before eating.

The flame changes one thing. Power Grip carries no flammability classification, and the service range of -15 °C to +120 °C quoted above is comfortably clear of anything a jar should reach. But if any of your decorations are polyethylene or polypropylene, this page sends you to Selleys All Plastics — and that is a different product: Danger, H225, highly flammable liquid and vapour, with H319 (serious eye irritation) and H336 (may cause drowsiness or dizziness).

So if you use All Plastics on this project: work with a window open, keep it away from any lit candle or heater while you are using it, and let the holder cure fully before a flame goes anywhere near it. The primer pen is solvent too. The H225 vapour is heavier than air and pools at bench and floor level, so a match struck low down still counts.

The lower-hazard route is to design the flame out. Power Grip is the right product for the glass-to-timber bond this project rests on. Where you can choose decorations that are not polyethylene or polypropylene, you avoid bringing a flammable solvent into a project whose finished form holds an open flame. Use candles that sit well down inside the jar, never let a flame reach the rim, and never leave one unattended.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions about the DIY candle holders

How thick should the timber coasters be?

Around 15mm is ideal.

How long do I hold the jar in place?

About a minute, to allow maximum contact. The glue sets in approximately three minutes.

When is it actually strong?

Practical strength is usually achieved within 12 hours on porous surfaces such as wood and ceramics, and Selleys advises allowing longer for non-porous surfaces. Glass is non-porous, so give it at least 12 hours before handling the holder normally.

Is there a way to speed up the set on glass?

Yes — keep the surfaces apart for 30 seconds after applying the glue, before bringing them together. That reduces set times on non-porous surfaces.

Will the glue show?

Power Grip is transparent with a yellow tinge. Keep the glue line thin and inside the joint where you can, since it will yellow further with direct UV exposure.

Will it stick ribbon to glass?

Yes — fabric and glass are both on its list of surfaces. A small blob to start the wrap and another to fix the two ends is all it takes.

Do I need to clean the jars first?

Yes. Surfaces must be clean and dry, and a food or label residue will weaken the bond.

Can I use it on plastic decorations?

Most plastics, yes — but not polyethylene or polypropylene. Use Selleys All Plastics for those.

Can the holders go outside?

Power Grip is water and weatherproof and works in interior and exterior applications, but it is not for permanent water immersion and it yellows in direct UV. A covered outdoor table is fine; a permanently exposed spot will age the glue lines.

How do I clean up a mistake?

Turps or acetone before the adhesive sets. Once cured, sand or scrape it.

Why has my tube gone hard?

Power Grip cures rapidly on exposure to air. Wipe the nozzle clean and replace the cap tightly straight after use, and store the tube upright in a cool dry place.