Jack O’ Lantern Candle Holder

• Start by mixing the translucent and orange clay. I used a 2 oz. package of Premo translucent and about 1 ½” square of an orange-red mix I had on hand. Orange straight from the package looks more yellow-orange when mixed with that much translucent, and I wanted a little bit darker, richer orange color.

• When you’ve got your color mixed, put it through on the next two settings on your pasta machine, until it’s as thin as you want. I went to a number 3 on my Amaco (I think that’s a 4 on the Atlas). Straighten up at least one long edge and one short edge with your blade.

• Lay your sheet around the candleholder, smoothing out air bubbles as you go. When you get back to where you started, trim off the excess and smooth the seam.

• Set the candle holder on its top edge, and pinch in the extra clay around the bottom. Cut off the parts you’ve pinched up, and smooth the seams. After all of my trimming, I think I’ll have enough for another candle holder.

• Using your paint brush handle or bamboo skewer, press a line into the clay.

• For evenly spaced lines, use your paintbrush as a guide to mark the next line - holding the brush straight, push the end down to make a mark opposite your first line.

• I used my blade as a line between the first two marks so I could tell more easily where to mark my third line, halfway between the first two. Do the same for the opposite side. Now you have four lines, evenly spaced around the candleholder. You can stop here, or fill in as many lines as you want. I made another line in each section, so I ended up with eight lines total.

• If you want to add a face, draw it up in pencil (dark) on a small sheet of paper.

• Put the paper against the clay (make sure the side with the pattern is touching the clay) and smooth it down with your finger. It works best to only smooth it one way – otherwise the pattern might move, and you’ll get blurry or double lines. Remove your pattern, and carefully cut just outside the pencil lines with your exacto knife. If you want to sand your piece, I would bake it here and sand before adding detail to the top edge.

• At this point you have lots of options. Line the top with leaves, twist or braid some green snakes together and place that around the rim, make a top of clay with a stem (be sure to remove the top when burning a candle). Use your imagination and have fun with it! I chose to make three different colored snakes of clay and twist them around the top like vines. Make loops and pull one color through another until you’re happy with the way it looks.

• Add a few leaves here and there (or use to cover up areas of the vine you don’t like). Now you just need to bake it! I left this one in for 45 minutes. After it’s cooled down, choose a few spots to carefully pull the vine away from the pumpkin and put a dab of glue (I like Lisa Pavelka’s poly bonder) where they touch for a little extra strength. Glaze, or not, and you’re finished! Use a tealight for the best glowing effect – votives are so tall you don’t get much glow with them.