Sara Walker tries out the technique of marbling with Craftiosity Craft Boxes.
Crafts are enjoying a big resurgence at the moment, as more of us find that we’ve either got a little more time on our hands or that we like the de-stressing and relaxing effect that handicrafts can have. Traditional activities such as crochet and knitting are seeing more converts, as are more niche crafts such as lino cuts and leatherwork. Craft subscription box services are proving really popular at the moment as the nation gets crafting, so I was pleased to be asked to try out the Craftiosity service.
What is Craftiosity?
Marbling candle holder kit from Craftiosity. Image (c) Craftiosity
A subscription box service which delivers a complete kit in a box to your door every month for a payment of £24.95/month. You can also buy individual boxes on a one off basis for £26.95. Free postage applies on all boxes. The thing that’s brilliant about it is that it gives you a chance to try all sorts of different crafts on a small level so that you can see what you enjoy and what you don’t. It’s a cost effective way of ‘having a go’, you’ll end up with a finished project and you won’t have to nip out and buy anything in order to complete your work – everything is included. The slight downside is that occasionally you’ll get something that doesn’t appeal as much – but you never know, it might turn into your new favourite thing! A subscription would make a great gift, as well. I also like the fact that there’s no minimum subscription and you can cancel whenever you like.
The Craftiosity marbled candle holder craft kit
My review kit contained all the equipment needed to create a marbled candle holder. According to the instructions, “With the wooden candle holder, you’ll add a base colour with white paint, then create whirling, swirling patterns using the marbling inks in a tray of water. The best thing about marbling is that the results are unique every single time, so no two candle holders will ever be the same.”
The kit contained a wooden candle holder, plastic tray, white paint, paintbrush, marbling inks, disposable gloves (non-latex), printed-step-step instructions, details for an online tutorial video and some beautiful sample marbled postcards.
Wooden candle holder and acrylic paint.
This was an interesting kit for me, as I’ve never tried marbling before and it was certainly being made easy! I covered the dining table with plastic and newspaper (I’m a messy worker!) and got started.
Painting the holder before marbling.
The kit comes with both an instructional video and very detailed step-by-step instructions, and is suitable for beginners. It comes in a beautifully presented box – I can imagine these would be a pleasure to open every month!
I started by giving the plain wooden candlestick a coat of white acrylic paint to create a base for the marbling, and then left it to dry.
Adding the inks to the water.
Then, following the instructions, I part-filled the plastic tray with drops of the two inks (one black, one blue), and used the wrong end of the paintbrush to swirl them together to make the marbling pattern.
Creating the pattern.
Finally, I lowered one side of the plain white candlestick into the patterned water then rotated it and lowered the other side in. I then set it to dry. The instructions said that this would take around four to five hours but I must have put my dye on very thick, as it actually took a couple of days to be completely dry. One thing I liked about this craft is that it’s very quick to produce an impressive result.
The downside was that you really only get one go at it! I would have prefer my pattern to be more marbled, and should have ‘swirled’ it more first. Next time, I’d practise with a piece of cardboard so that I could get a feel for how the pattern was going to turn out before I used it ‘for real’.
And….da dah! The finished result.
The finished result looked good though, and unusual! I think this kit would make an excellent gift for anyone interested in crafting, or for yourself if you fancy trying various different techniques. It’s not cheap, but I think it’s good value as I ended up with enough materials to complete several more projects in the future. A lovely idea!
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