Gel Candle Designs: Working with Gel Cubes

by Amy Pascoe of Rustic Escentuals

Folks don't think about gel cubes in their gel candles. Folks don't realize the power they hold.

Gel cubes are wonderful, squishy goodies that make life easier! Gel cubes are simple to make. I always leave mine unscented (we'll get to that in a minute).

First, pre-warm your oven on Low, then turn off. For the gel, all you need to do is ladle directly from your Presto Pot into a cookie sheet (with sides, of course!). I use MP Penreco gel in an clean, nonstick cookie sheet. Just keep adding liquid gel until the cookie sheet is full. Then carefully place in your oven for de-bubbling. Remove when gel has cooled. You can make your chunks with colored or uncolored gel.

I use a sharp knife to cut the cubes - you get a cleaner cut by not using scissors. Simply peel the sheet of gel out of the cookie sheet and cut with a knife into long strips. Then start cutting into cubes. The smaller the cubes, the easier they are to work with when creating your candle. I cut mine about 1/4" diameter square. But be sure to cut some larger ones too. A few varying sizes will come in handy.

I spend several afternoons merely building up my cube "inventory". You can peel out the sheets of gel and lay upon a sheet of freezer paper (yep, they stack!). While you watch TV at night, just bring out your gel sheets and start cutting cubes... you'll be surprised at how much you can get done! Store the gel cubes in zipper seal bags. Be sure to keep all colors separate. This way, once you're ready to start gellin', all you have to do is pull out a bag of precut cubes. Easy, peasy!

I've found that when burning a gel candle using unscented cubes, the scent throw is not compromised. By having your inventory of unscented cubes, you can immediately begin crafting and not have to worry about scent. The scent is in the over-pour

What can you make with gel cubes? Just about every gel you create can be made easier by using gel cubes. There's only one important thing to remember: when over-pouring, pour HOT.

When making a seascape, position the embeds *exactly* where you want them by keeping in place with gel cubes. Simply wick the container, add a bed of sand, and a few gel cubes. Then start placing your sea creatures. Surround all the embeds with clear gel cubes. You can continue building the seascape all the way to the top simply by "suspending" your embeds in between the gel cubes. Then, over-pour with hot, scented gel.

You can also add some larger gel cubes before pouring the sand into your container - they provide bumps in the sand to give an uneven, more realistic ocean floor. This technique can be used with any gel creation containing embeds - not just seascapes.

If the above technique doesn't suit your fancy, there's another way to "suspend" embeds with gel cubes. Sacrifice a Pyrex lasagna dish to your gellin' addiction <grin>. Fill the pan halfway with clear, unscented gel and let cool for 8-11 minutes. Then take your embeds and squish into the gel about halfway. Let cool. Once cool, over-pour with hot gel to the top of the pan. Again, let cool.

Now, what do you have? If you take a knife and cut a wide area around your embed, it's suspended inside of a gel cube! This is a very, very easy way to "suspend" an embed. If you like to use a wire to hold your embed in place but the embed doesn't have a little hook, then just run the wire through the gel cube that holds the embed inside.

You can also make Mosaic gels, or chunk gel candles by using multiple colors. Simply put some complimentary colors together in a bowl and toss like a salad. Always be sure to use CLEAR gel cubes with the colored mixture - it helps to separate the colors once inside the candle. Pour the mixed cubes into your wicked container and overpour with hot, scented gel. Voila...a Mosaic gel! Again, easy to make.

When tossing & mixing your gel cubes, don't forget GLITTER! Glitter is another powerful tool when working with gel. Sprinkle a few pinches into your mixture and look at the extra shimmer & twinkle your candle will have! Be sure to always have on hand the good, basic glitter colors of silver, gold, and diamond dust. These can be used with just about any color of gel.

Gel cubes can be layered for a rainbow candle. To prevent colors from bleeding onto one another during the over-pour just work with one layer at a time. Put in the gel cubes and overpour to the top, then add more cubes, then overpour. Ever wonder how to make those "Jello" creations? Gel cubes! Just toss some cubes into a wicked dish and gently over-pour.

Gel cubes work well with wax embeds. Not only will they hold your embed in place, they also help to cushion the wax against the hot gel, which prevents bleeding or melting. Use gel cubes when making fruit preserve candles. Add wax fruits around the perimeter of the container while filling the center with gel cubes. This will make your wax embed supply last longer! Use clear or colored cubes to position fruit slices in your pie candles, then over-pour with scented gel. There are many, many uses for gel cubes. I've only touched the surface, but I hope it sparks your imagination and creativity to come up with ideas of how to make gellin' easier!

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