A few months ago, I was at a church attic sale and ran across these for a song:

They are candle holders for taper candles. I almost never use tapers, but I loved the form of these tassels. And of course, the chipped gold wasn't really working for me, either. I just knew that if I gave them a little love, they would be perfect on my mantel!

First off, these guys had a lot of wax dripped all over.


I used soapy water to gently clean them and a case knife to remove the wax. This step took just a little bit of patience.

Then I found some great spray paint. I'm not a big spray painter, but I knew I wanted something glossy, but neutral. This glossy gray paint fit the bill perfectly!

Unfortunately, the nature of the tassels (as in super detailed) meant a lot of coats of spray paint...from all different directions!


But eventually, I got the coverage I wanted.

These guys sure shine against my (still) white walls in the living room! I know that we're going to have loads of fun together! It's amazing what some spray paint will do for a couple of dollar purchase!


But I'm still not going to use them with tapers....