DIY Diwali Decoration - Flower LED Tealight Candles/Candle Holders

The only things we do during Diwali as a family unfailingly are order in Chinese food (Indo-Chinese, actually), hang up some fairy lights on our main window and place diyas every which where.

That's a brilliant way to celebrate, if you ask me, because the food is delicious and we hardly spend half an hour putting everything up before digging in to the feast. But one annoying thing that we've faced the last couple of years is that our diyas (sometimes tealight candles when we're too lazy to buy diyas) last maybe 5 minutes before the wind inevitably blows them out (likely because it's been colder and breezier around this time of the year than it used to be).

So this year, we decided on throwing into the mix a few LED tealight candles as well. Which look bleh, so here's an attempt at prettying them up.

Materials Needed:

We're just making the usual stocking-flowers for this-

1. Flower-making stockings (or similar thin, stretchy materials. The translucency of stocking material is key for the light to shine through and show glimpses of the flower holder even at night)

2. Appropriate wire (should be very flexible, thin and easy to bend and shape)

3. Strong sewing thread, scissors, wire-cutter

4. LED tealight candles

Half the materials are missing in this picture, yes.

I brought out my several years old stock of stockings (hehe) and wires, my sewing box and my mum, and sat down to work.

Procedure:

This post is starting to eerily resemble a school lab record with all these sub-headings.

STEP 1: Take your wire, and loop it around to make a....loop.

Loopy, man

I'd recommend using something like a bottle with it's cap on or a similar template to wrap the wire around for the initial loop. This will help keep your petals uniform in size. I forgot about this entirely while making the flower (and my mum didn't even need a template).

STEP 2: Once you've got the size you want, twist the ends of the wire into a closed loop, and snip the petal off.

Looks like a balloon, hey!

STEP 3: Shape it however you want. I used the first petal I'd made to make sure I'm getting something that's roughly the same size, but this won't be necessary if you're wrapping the wire around a template object.

Viewing the specimen under a strangely-shaped magnifying glass

One is a representation of the other's hollow soul

STEP 4: Once you're happy with the shape of your wire petal, stretch your stocking over it. Make sure not to stretch too tight, or the cloth will rip.

STEP 5: Start tying the stocking around the bottom of the petal by looping the sewing thread around it tight, and finish with tying about 3-4 knots in whatever way is easy for you.

We used this weird loopy way of knotting the thread over the petal at the end, which is exactly like how you'd cast your first row of knitting stitches on a needle. As long as you pull each such 'knot' tight enough, it will hold well.

Vaguely unhelpful GIF

STEP 6: Cut off the remaining stocking, and trim the ends so it doesn't get too bulky when you're trying to build the flower (it'll get bulky in any case though). Ensure not to trim too close to the thread, as then the stocking will just slip under the thread and come off the wire.

One petal done!

STEP 7: Repeat the same steps to make how many ever petals you want. The flower will need to be large enough to hold the diyas/candles in (for making the holder), but even if you make the flower the diya itself, it'll look better if the flower is big enough to overshadow the LED candle.

I went ahead and made 5 small petals, and 5 big ones.

STEP 8: For a flower holder - At this point, you can begin placing your petals in whorls and start tying them together the same way you tied the petals close.

The best part about these wiry flowers is you can shape the petals in any way even after you finish tying them all up.

Ta-da!

Now you can trim some of the bottom of the flower, wrap that with fabric tape, cloth or similar to finish it up, and you're done! You can now place your LED tealight candle at the centre of the flower.

Trim bits here and there to reduce bulk

Here's the flower my mum made-

Prettyyyy

STEP 9: For a flower diya - What we did was stick the petals around the candle itself, so that only the LED 'flame' stuck out of the centre of the flower.

This is where things can get a little fiddly. A lot will depend on the kind of glue you use and how much patience you have left at this point. We used double-sided tissue tape to help us keep the petals in place one by one, and used liquid craft glue to actually stick the petals in place. The stocking is a sheer fabric, so something like fabric glue or tacky glue should work well.

Start by gluing the petals one by one. Since these petals are wired, even if you go a little uneven with the placement, you can bend them into shape at the end to make them look better.

I forgot what this arrow was supposed to be pointing at

Once you finish the inner ring of petals, glue on the outer ones next. Try not to move onto gluing on the next petal until you're confident the current one is stuck in place well enough.

STEP 10: Once you've glued on all the petals around the LED 'flame' in this way, tie the base of the flower as before to hold the petals together. Tie it tight, but not too tight. Too tight or too loose, and the petals will just be all over the place. Now you can begin giving a final bit of shaping to the whole thing.

STEP 11: Cover the base of the flower (sides of the LED candle included) with anything you'd like- fabric scraps, decorative tape, unstretched stocking material. We just wrapped more stocking cloth around, without stretching it, and closed the edge with cellotape.

LED flower diyas are done!

Huzzah!

We were both really happy with the end result

Turn off the lights and enjoy your work!