Now to Love

Floating candles Use food moulds to create these beautiful, floral floating candles. To make them, first follow our step-by-step guide to Moulded Candles, then use a skewer to make holes for wicks when wax has almost set.

Stamped and embossed candles Old and new candles can be smartened up with a little simple craftwork. Stamp and emboss your candles using a rubber stamp, ink pad and any one of the many glittering embossing powders available from craft outlets. Heat the embossed design with an embossing gun to achieve the finished effect.

Painted container candle Give an old glass or metal container or a terracotta pot a birght new look with a little paint and lots of imagination. We painted a simple floral design around the outside of a glass container using acrylic paint. To make the candle, first follow our instructions for making moulded candles. If […]

Studded candles Transform plain candles by using thumbtacks to create your own interesting motifs and designs. Just push the tacks into the wax. Cluster the candles to create an impact.

Shell candles Fill shells with colourful wax and group them for a pretty lighting display. To make the shell candles, follow our instructions for making moulded candles and push metal skewer in to the wax once it hardens slightly to make a hole for the wick. Melt a little more wax and pour it around […]

Children will love these colourful, egg shaped candles and can help in making them, but never let young children melt or pour the liquid wax. Egg candles Materials: Eggs (the desired number) sharp knife small bowl stearin included or buy stearin and mix it with wax- 8 parts wax to 1 part stearin) wax dyes […]

These are great for kids as they’re simple to make and can be moulded in a range of shapes and sizes. Beeswax Candles Materials Sheets of beeswax (in desired colours) sharp knife wicking Working on a protected surface, cut the beeswax sheets into rectangular or tirangular shapes of the desired size. Cut a length of […]

Fibre is a vital part of the digestive process, but are you eating enough? Dietitian/nutritionist Vanessa Jones shows how, by making small changes in what you eat, you can easily go from a low-fibre diet to one that is high in fibre. Your mother describes it as ‘roughage’, the kids call it ‘those yucky grainy […]

Insoluble fibre This type of fibre tends to be better known as it is more visible and often adds texture to our food. Insoluble forms of fibre include cellulose (present in all edible food plants), hemicelluloses (found especially in cereal bran) and lignin (found mainly in cereals and woody vegetables). Best sources include cereal bran […]

White marquees stood amidst lush gardens, like giant meringues. People sat around a lake feeding the ducks and reading. There was a star line-up of authors, some swooping bats and lots of spicy gossip drifting through the sweet, tropical air at the fifth Byron Bay Writers Festival . For those who couldn’t attend, here are […]