Guernsey Candles

Guernsey

Today has been my day off, and being away from home for 3 weeks in one go, means that my days off are to be spent exploring my location. Guernsey, which for those who are not from the UK, is situated off the coast of France but is still part of the United Kingdom. I have been working in St Peter Port all week, and staying nearby, so throughout the week have been trying to gather information on things to do and places to visit. It is difficult, however, that being off peak at the moment, a lot of the usual attractions are closed for the Winter. Also, in the Channel Islands, shops are very traditional and don’t tend to open on Sundays, so a trip into town was off the cards. I did find a leaflet in my hotel for Guernsey Candles though, which opens all day on Sunday and offers a gift shop, as well as the opportunity to make your own candles – you can guess where I have been today!

I arrived first thing and took a look around the gift shop, which offered all kinds of different things, including ready made candles for you to buy if you didn’t fancy making your own…

I obviously did want to make my own, and for just £8.50 you get to not only dip your candle to whatever colour scheme you desire, but you also get to carve it. I must admit, I was the only adult taking part (which actually kinda saddens me!) but it was such good fun! I made two candles overall; the first of which I am going to give to my Mum for her birthday…

From dipping to carving

I was pleased with this one, bearing in mind it was my first attempt! It’s really difficult to get the curls even, but I did a reasonable job and my dipping produced a nice effect too, so that’s a bonus! I feel my second candle, which I have made for Dave and I, went a lot better and I was really pleased with the dipping! I also managed to get some more step-by-step photos of the process.

Everyone starts out with a standard grey star shape

After a minimum of 5 white dips (to make sure the next colour comes out clear and not muted from the grey) you can then start dipping as you please. There are yellow, pink and blue dips, which obviously when combined can create orange, purple and green when you mix them. I wanted to do some gradients on this candle so I experimented!

After cutting the flat base

The cross section of this one came out really well! It reminds me of the polished crystal slices you can buy in gem shops. This is basically everything that dripped off during the dipping process, and it doesn’t go to waste – it is all melted down to make the next grey star bases for future candles. Hooray for no waste!

Candle #2

I found the carving a little easier this time, and the gradient dipping really paid off in the showing the oranges through to purples and pinks…I really like it! And I finished it with the gradient blue on the outside too. The top is a little untidy but it’s still pretty. I don’t think I’m going to be able to burn this though!!

Tada!

What do you think? I’m really proud of them and it kept me amused for 2 hours of my day! A real bargain and I would love to do it again – to be honest, I would have happily spent all day doing it…it’s so relaxing. So Guernsey Candles is getting an absolutely massive thumbs up from me! The staff are so lovely – I believe the gentleman in today is called Peter, so thank you for the wonderful conversation and for putting up with a big kid!