hey, that's terrific! what was the varnish method? i have also painted candles with the candle medium, but didn't know about this method. do tell! and thanks! :-)

Payd, Wish I could remember who posted the soaps so I could give them credit--anyhow they just use a waterbase varnish instead of the candle medium.

Just brush a couple coats on the plain side of the soap (soft brush gives smoother stroke lines), let it dry, then either paint your pattern or a background color on with acrylics. Finish it with a couple more smooth coats of varnish. If giving as a gift, mention that the soap can be used all the way to the design. ( I imagine you end up with a thin strip of the varnish at the end.)

If this idea came from one of the poster's on this forum, I hope you will join in here and take credit for sharing such a great idea and easy technique.

Luvs

I don't think Anj got to see these because I posted them yesterday and they were down the page aways already.--Going to bump them up in case she was interested in how the varnish worked on them. Luvs

Aha! It was Soso who told us about using the waterbase varnish on the soap. Thank you Soso.

I just need to use a softer brush for the varnish to avoid the streaks and bubbles better.

Glad Anj added to her post "I'm Painting!" on the discussions side because the soaps are on that post. If you haven't seen them, be sure to check them out. They are really nice. Luvs

Crud ! I know I saw these and posted, but my post isn't there. It's starting to get annoying because I'm paying extra attention to make sure I'm hitting the submit button.

Luvs~ these are just beautiful. I love the one stroke on them, looks so pretty. (I asked DH for some Donna Dewberry practice sheets for Christmas. I think those along with the videos will get me going.) You said you are giving them as gifts. How are you going to do them? Alone or with a set of towels or in a tiny basket? I have some patterns picked out that I want to try too. Just didn't know where to find the varnish, but looked it up online. I suppose it's just with the acrylics and I've just never noticed it because I've never needed it. I couldn't find soap without a name impressed in it so I guess I'm just going to have to paint on the back. Your's looks nice and thick, where did you find yours? Anyway, great job and sorry my reply didn't post before. Weird. ~Anj

Hi Anj, I've had that happen before too. I've also discovered that I thought I posted one place, when it was actually in another place! LOL I just didn't want you to miss the fact that the varnish works really well. It was so nice of Soso to share that tip with us. I was going to go to Dollar Tree to look for the 3 for a $1.00 that Soso told us she finds. Then I remembered that I had a box in the guest bathroom that we were given years ago when we installed a soft water system. Mine has words on one side also--so I painted on the back too. This is one project that won't be expensive, and I bet your kids would enjoy painting them too. I want to see if Dollar Tree has any of those cellophane bags with the holiday designs on them. Thought I'd put a soft washcloth and a bar of soap in the bag and tie it with a pretty ribbon for little gifts. Have fun painting yours, can't wait to see what designs you do. Luvs

Showed these to my DM and she may want me to paint some as gifts for her too. I hope I have time to do all these projects I have lined up. Geez. ha It's exciting and frustrating at the same time cause there is so much to do and seemingly so little time. Should have started in July!! ha I'm off to paint. ~Anj

Ok, I need help. I went to Roberts over the weekend and Michaels today and none of the people in there seemed to know what the heck I was talking about. Looked at me like I had just sprouted a second head when I said I was going to paint on soap. I finally found some water based varnish and ended up getting the matte finish?? If you got yours at Michaels would you be so kind as to tell me the exact name brand and what finish you got? The kind I got was J.W. etc. RIGHT-STEP water based clear varnish matte finish. The lady said I can return it if it's not right. I'll be waiting to hear from somebody. :) I'm going to post this over on the other side too. ~Anj

Anj, I answered you over on the other post. Not to worry, your's is fine. We should have had Soso tell us more details. I suggested that you email her to see what brand she is using. Luvs

Luvs, I love your painted soaps. You do such pretty roses also. I just decided to paint some candles and was checking this forum to see what to use and found this post about the water based varnish. Have you tried the candles with the varnish yet and did you like the results? Thanks.

Hi Sandi, I haven't bought any more candles yet, but there is no reason it would not work just great. Only one concern--it should only be use where it will not come in contact with the flame. In other words, it would be fine for a chunky candle but I would be cautious about using it on a taper candle.

I painted about a dozen Dollar Tree candles using the candle medium before. This varnish is less expensive, bigger bottle, and can be used for other things. That is why I wanted to try it. I prefer not to have to buy specialty items if there is a multi-purpose one I could use instead.

They make great gifts, can match the "theme" of someone's home, and are just fun. I've even sponge painted a white candle with color when I needed one to match something else.

Have fun. Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Luvs

Luvs, Thank you. I think I might give it a try later today. I'll let you know how I do. Have a great day!

You can always burn down or cut out a little hole in the middle for a tea light candle to sit in it. Then it doesn't burn your pretty candle up, but you can still light it when you want to. You just change out the tea lights when they burn down. ~Anj

That's a great idea too, Anj. I'll have to remember that if I do any more of them. Luvs

I just saw on another site that they were putting graphics on soap and dipping the tops in melted canning wax to seal them. One lady said she paints hers and dips them. They all said it works really well. Just another way to do it I guess so thought I'd share it here. ~Anj

That sounds like it would work, but lots more work to do it. Wonder why they do that instead of the varnish--does it make the picture look deeper and richer? Thanks for sharing the idea. Luvs

Luvs,
The wax would actually make the painted part lighter in a way.

Anj likes Prim like I do so my guess is that she found this on one of those sites. We like to distress things and not have things stand out as much so it makes sense to us Prim people! LOL

It does sound like more work and maybe a little messy, but just another way in case you are out of the varnish or spray one of these days and you happen to have some canning wax around, it is supposed to work just as well. ha I imagine the smell is nothing compared to the other for some people who may not be able to take it.

It was a graphics site that they were doing it on. I imagine it helps disguise the paper on the soap. Leslie~ I was thinking how cool it would look maybe dripping down the sides of the soap, but the ones I saw didn't have any drips. ha ~Anj