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Greetings, fellow Disney enthusiasts and creative souls! Today, we embark on a magical journey to bring to life one of the most charming characters from the "Beauty and the Beast" universe — Lumiere, the charismatic candelabra. Prepare to illuminate the night with this super easy DIY Lumiere Costume. Let's dive into the enchantment!
For this particular costume I opted for a Gold dress which I ordered from Shein, but really you can wear any Gold/Yellow outfit if you already have something at home.
Materials Needed:
Wide headband (plastic)
Metallic Gold spray paint
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Tools: Electric Drill/Screwdriver, Screws, Washers, Scissors & Cable Ties
Gold fabric for detailing
Optional: White Wig
Optional: White face paint/foundation
Step 1: Handles
Start by working out how long you want your handles, mine were roughly 14cm, cut your handles to length using a hand saw, be very careful!
Step 2: Bowls (Candle Holders)
Take 2 of your bowls and drill a small hole in the centre of the base (smaller than your screw) then place a washer over your screw and attach the bowl to your handle.
Step 3: Headband (Head Candle Holder)
The headband we used had material attached to it, if this is also the case for you, you are going to need to remove the material first. Make sure whatever headband you use the band part is made out of plastic. Take your 3rd bowl and roughly place where you would like it to sit on your headband. For this part you will need to eyeball the placement of 2 small holes either side of the headband. Once you have those you can cable tie your bowl to the headband. Ensure the head of the cable tie is underneath the headband and not inside your bowl, this is so that the Candle will sit flush in the bowl and not wobble around. You are next going to want to trim the cable tie so there is no excess.
*Be very careful with this part* For a smooth pain free finish you will want to heat a knife over a flame and press the knife against the cable tie head to reduce any sharp edges and bulk.
Step 4: Painting
Now your candle holders are attached you are ready to paint. We used a Metallic Gold Spray paint which gave a mirror shine and was super easy to use. You can use any kind of Gold paint if you already have some at home. However you choose to paint make sure you do this outside in a well ventilated area. We held the candle holders buy the now attached handles which made for a very easy application. To avoid drips don't spray to close or for too long. You don't need to worry about spraying the handles in their entirety as they won't be seen. Similar goes for the headband, you can hold this by the end as this part will be behind your ears and possibly concealed by hair.
Leave the paint to dry before continuing, we bought ours inside and made a makeshift holder from an old box so that everything could dry without being placed down. Please read the instructions on your paint as to the suggested drying time.
Step 5: Cover the handles
Depending on the length of your handles you are going to want to cut your material roughly 10cm longer so mine was 25cm long and 1m wide which was more than I needed. Once cut to your desired length flip your bowl upside down and heat up your glue gun. While gluing make sure your fabric is shiny side down. For a smooth edge fold back the top of the material to create a hem. Start by gluing a small section to the edge of the base of the bowl, then pleat the fabric as you glue in small sections folding the material in small areas back on itself. Push the fabric down onto the glue so that it penetrates the fabric and the fold so it holds the pleat together. Work your way around the bowl, when you get all the way round make sure to over lap the end edge over beginning so there is no gap. The opening in the material will then become the back edge closest to you so that the front falls neatly. Repeat on the other bowl.
Step 6: Attach your candles
Firstly your are going to want to insert your batteries and make sure your candles work. Once you are happy turn them off and attach them to the bowls using your strong adhesive Velcro.
The placement of the Velcro is very important, you want to cover as much of the base of the candle as possible while still being able to get to the on/off switch. Cut your Velcro to the desired length and press both soft and rough pieces together, remove one side of the self adhesive cover and stick your Velcro to the candle. If you are attaching more that one piece to your candle do this before removing the 2nd adhesive cover. Once you have all your Velcro in place remove the remaining adhesive covers and place inside the bowl. If like mine your candle has a front and back remember that the opening of your material covering the handle is the back, so your candle needs to face away from you. Press down firmly. You can now remove the candle (gently) and the Velcro should separate. If you have any issues with this stage your can hold down one corner of the base Velcro to make removal easier.
Optional Step 7: Hair & Makeup
I opted to wear a white wig to represent the candle/wax and chose to paint the top half of my forehead white with drips to make it look like candle wax. This was a hit and was simple enough to do, I am no makeup artist as you can see! I used white eyeliner to draw out the drips and filled the space with white foundation, face paint would also work for this. This step is entirely optional and there are lots of ways within this step you could really make it your own and put your own twist on this costume.
Step 8: Strike a Pose
Put on your DIY Lumiere Costume, strike a pose, and get ready to light up any party or event with your charming presence.
Final Thoughts:
This costume was for a Disney themed surprise party and I had 1 month to plan and gather supplies.
I knew exactly what I wanted to be right away and knew roughly how I was going to do it. I ordered my dress, wig and sparkly tights from Shein straight away so I knew they would arrive in time, everything else was left until 2 days before! We relied heavily on Amazon and also local shops.
We had a huge fluke with our candles and managed to pick ours up at our local Range. They were ex display and were on clearance, they had a bit of damage and had previously been dropped but we were lucky enough to get them for 50% off the retail price so for me it wasn't the end of the world if they didn't 100% work. They did work and turned out great with the moving wick which made for very realistic candles. To save on budget here you could easily make non light up carboard candles. There's a great tutorial on Youtube for this using toilet rolls and hot glue.
Velcro-ing the candles to the holders and making them removable made travelling to and from the party much easier. It also meant that once the initial 'wow' factor of the costume was done and I wanted to use my hands I could remove the candles and they doubled as party decorations. It also meant that the candles can be reused for home decor or other projects. You can of course use other methods to attach the candles but this was the best method I found for my purpose.
Here's some things I would do differently:
If I was doing this costume again then I would invest in a stand to hold the accessories whilst out and about, luckily this was a house party so it didn't matter too much but if I was ever to wear this out then it might have been an issue. An ice cream stand would be ideal like this one from Amazon.
I would also place a small mark somewhere on one of the candles and one of the bowls so I knew which one belonged where after Velcro-ing. When I got to the party and assembled my costume I got my candles mixed up so the Velcro placement wasn't 100% which made for a slightly wobbly candle, it really wasn't an issue so I didn't fix it I was just careful, but another time I would mark them as it does make a difference.
The only other thing I would have done differently was a makeup issue I had. I would do the white first another time as I had done my whole base first and found my normal foundation started to blend with the white rather than sitting on top.
With more time and planning you could easily add extras to this costume and make it far more elaborate, but for me this was a really fun yet simple DIY project that turned out great and looked amazing in photos.
Now, go forth and let your light shine, just like our favorite candelabra from Beauty and the Beast!
Illuminate the night, my fellow enchanters! ✨🕯️
Until next time,
Alix,
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