I love a good movie. Some movies have scenes so inspiring, tragic, or just so well-staged, that they are tattooed into my eyeballs forever after seeing them. The English Patient came out when I was in High School. I’ve seen it dozens of times since then, and one scene in particular has always haunted me. Today’s craft, making snail shell candles, is inspired by that very scene.
To refresh your memory, the scene is below:
To make a path of burning snail shell candles which will lead your lover to a barn where you wait in the shadows, you will need the following:
– Escargot shells
– Braided candle wick thread
– Standard wick tabs (the metal base)
– Pliers
– Hot Glue Gun & Hot Glue Sticks
– 1 pound block bees wax
– Double boiler, or metal bowl and saucer of boiling water
– Empty egg cartons
– Funnel
– Paper towels or napkins
– Barn
– Lover
After picking up a container of escargot snail shells (and meats!) at my local grocery store, I picked out the prettiest, and most colorful snail shells, and placed them in my empty egg carton. I cut lengths of braided wick (each, about 2 1/4 inches long) and pulled each length of wick through the hole in the wick tab. Using the pliers, I pinched the metal tube at the top of the wick tab together so that the braided wick would stay attached to the metal base.
I made sure I was working on a surface that would be easy to clean up, and wouldn’t get damaged by any spilled wax (If you are not sure how well your surface will clean up, put a sheet of aluminum foil, or wax paper under your egg carton of snail shells.)
Next, I inserted the wicks into each shell. Using my hot glue gun, I secured each wick tab in place with a bead of glue.
When all of the wicks were glued into the shells, I melted my bees wax on the stove, using a double boiler.
I used my plastic funnel to help pour the hot liquid wax into each shell. As the shells filled with wax, I tried to keep their wick strings in the center of each shell opening, so that they would burn evenly. I also rotated each snail shell as the wax cooled, so that I could fill the shell with as much wax as possible. I wanted these to be able to burn for as long as possible.
To keep the shells from tipping as the wax cooled, I folded napkins between some of the rows of the egg carton. This added extra support, and soaked up any spilled wax.
Then, I just waited for the wax to dry. When a few of my candles developed bubbles in the wax, I re-melted and re-pored the wax- which patched up any and all visible bubbles.
I couldn’t wait to light my snail shell candles. As soon as it was dark enough, I took a few outside, and lit them. The effect was as beautiful, romantic, and haunting as I had seen it in the English Patient.
In addition to leading your lover to a barn via burning snail shell candles, I would encourage you to use this craft in the following scenarios:
– Aisle-runner for a beach-wedding (dreamy!)
– Mood-lighting to seduce handsome malacologists (snail scientist)
– Dramatic warning to garden snails/beautiful lighting for an evening garden party
– etc. etc!
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, I have a few other movie scene-inspired crafts I’m thinking about whipping up and sharing with you here!
oh my mawd, you are so rad it’s stupid. this. is. the bomb!
OMG I LOVED THAT MOVIE TOO! I totally remember that scene. I want to make these nowwwwwwwww.
AWWW Thanks Jekkers!! <3 That is th efunniest compliment I've had in a while
Those are lovely. I make mussel and oyster shell (& vintage Tea cup)candles but hadn’t thought to try snail shells. Lovely idea.
CKx
So gorgeous and innovative!
I’m definitely going to try this. I’m wondering if using a turkey baster instead of a funnel might make the process a bit easier. Thoughts?
I love the look of these, but I am wondering how long such a candle usually lasts? Do you have any experiences on that?
Calico Kate- Thank you so much! Your mussel and oyster shell candles sound really cute!
Coyote, a baster might work, but I would imagine that there would be a lot of wax build up that would become hard to remove? Just a guess- but when my craft was done, I had to pop the funnel in the freezer to scrape off all of the wax from the inside of the funnel…
Mr- thank you so much- they burn for anywhere between 30 -45 minutes, unless you are using VERY large snail shells, and very long wicks.
Thanks again for the comments!
xoxo
radmegan
This is amazing!!! I love those shells! Thank you so much for sharing your project with us :))
This is over the top cool. Lots of effort, but the end result is amazing. Kudos!
These are so charming. I am going to make them for my daughter’s “Snail” Birthday. Thank you!
thank you, they are beautiful! I reblogged here http://1129designorecchinigioielli.blogspot.com/2011/10/come-fare-la-conchiglia-candela-de-il.html hope you don’t mind best nicoletta
I am producing the giant snail shell. Burning for 24hours.
Hello Megan! I hope you are well and enjoying life in all its infine diversity and infinite combinations! (yup, a bit of a Trekker, me ;P)
THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!! for the beautiful inspiration, and for your wonderful page!
I”ve collected a HUGE box of various snails shells (since I’m depressed I walk much more often through fields, forests and riverbanks, trying to forget the civilised (not so much) world) – and was looking for the most efficient way to clean them and add as some embellishments to the beading projects (totally amateurish, but heck, one has to have a hobby!) – and DING!!! your page jumped at me out of the deep belly of the internet. Bless Internet ;D So I’m now about to merge candle making, beading, gardening and love of nature in one. Ah. Plus taking pics of the whole kaboodle at the end
May God held you in the palm of His hand, and if u r not a believer, then may all the roads rise to meet you 
Yours is just a GRAND net place 
All the best from my distant Poland and sorry for my English, it’s not my native tongue ;P Have a wonderful day, night, evening… life 
Thank you again. You certainely made MY day 