You will need...



4oz (100g) Plain Flour

3oz (75g) Salt

Hot Water

Paints

Spray varnish or clear lacquer

Begin by dissolving the salt in a small amount of hot water. Add the flour and mix to form dough. Add cold water if necessary but don't make the dough too sticky.

Now you're ready to model your candleholders. It's helpful if you have a candle handy to gage the size of the candleholder needed.

You need to start off with a base. Roll out some of the dough with a rolling pin. Use a cutter or a glass to cut out a circle from the dough. This is the base of the candleholder.

Roll two long sausages that are long enough to reach around the edge of the base. Twist the sausages together to create a nice rope effect. Fix the twisted strip around the base with a little cold water for glue.

Add decorations to your candle stick base...

Holly is attractive and gives the candleholder a festive flavour. Roll out an amount of dough with a rolling pin and using a knife cut out a prickly holly leaf. Use the knife to press on some leaf veins. With a dab of water, stick the leaf draping over the twist edging. Roll three small balls of dough for berries and stick them at the base of the leaf.

Rose Candleholder...

Cut two leaves, press in some leaf veins and stick the leaves on the twisted edge so that they over hang. Roll six small balls of dough and squash them to make circles. Pinch the bottom of one of the petals so that it almost folds in half. Wrap another petal around the first pinching the bottom and gently moulding the petal so that it curves out. Add the other petals in this way, pinching the bottom. Allow each petal to slightly overlap the previous one. With a dab of water stick the rose between the leaves on the candleholder.

Mousie Brown wasn't keen on tall candlesticks but he loved our cute little candleholders. To make a mouse roll out a long, thin sausage of dough, make it taper at one end. Stick this to the edging of the candleholder so that it curls like a mouse's tail. Roll a small mouse sized ball of dough, pinch out a pointed nose. Stick the mouse body to the candleholder on top of the wide part of the mouse's tail. Roll two small balls and squash them flat. Pinch the bottom of each ear slightly to give the ear some shape, and stick them to the mouse's head. Roll two tiny balls for his eyes.

Feeling confident? Try making a fancy, more traditional looking candleholder. Roll out some dough and cut out a larger base than before. Create a wavy edge tot he base - Put two fingers on the far edge of the base a fingers width apart. With the other hand, drag your index finger towards you between the two fingers of the other hand, making the dough ruckel up. Do this around the edge of the base but leaving a space with no shaping.

Roll out a chunky sausage and make a dough nut shape to hold the candle. Stick the doughnut on to the middle of the shaped base. Roll out another chunky sausage to make a handle. Stick one end to the doughnut shape (at the point where there is no shaping in the base) and curl it round so that it almost forms an ?S? shape, stick the other end on the base.

Once you have moulded your candleholders put them in the oven on a low heat for two hours. The are in the oven to dry out, not to bake so keep the heat low.

When they come out of the oven, leave them for a couple of days to dry out completely. Then paint, spray varnish, and insert a candle.