These copper and marble candleholders represent a couple of my weaknesses. One is reusing materials or items that would otherwise be discarded. Before I can get rid of anything, I ask myself whether I could somehow use it. Recently I’ve been saving eggshells for my garden, avocado pits for a future blog project (coming soon!), and I just dug a plastic container out of my recycling bin to mix up grout for the floor I’m tiling. I definitely don’t want to end up on a future episode of Hoarders, so I can (usually) chuck something if I don’t have an immediate use in mind for it. But it’s definitely super satisfying to be able to take something I’d otherwise get rid of and turn it into a useful or beautiful object.

When it was located near my house, the reusable art and craft supply store SCRAP was one of the first places I’d check when I needed supplies for a project. If I was lucky, they’d have exactly what I was looking for, for way cheaper than regular retail. Sometimes I’d end up finding some cool material that I couldn’t quite think up a use for, but knew I’d eventually want. That’s what happened with these marble trophy bases. Marble, it turns out, is another one of my weaknesses. I already turned one into a photo holder, but I had a few more lurking on my craft shelves that I made into these quick and easy copper and marble candleholders.

If you ever played sports as a kid you may have gotten a few trophies for participation, or maybe even winning an event. (I never got them for that last reason). If your hoarder parents haven’t been holding onto your childhood trophies, I suspect you could turn one up fairly easily at a thrift store, garage sale, or flea market, or you can just use a marble hexagon tile. Mine came as part of a whole sheet, but you might be able to persuade a tile store to sell or give you one or two as samples. Or just buy a whole sheet and make candleholders for everyone you know.

Materials:
3/4″ copper tube caps
Glue – I used Loctite Glass Glue
Marble tile (similar to these), or marble trophy base (similar to these)
Optional materials you might need:
Goo Gone
Pliers
Razor blade
Small wrench
Brasso
Rag
Taper candles

Steps:
If they look familiar, the first couple of pictures here are from my marble photo holder project.

1. You may need to clean up stickers or engraved metal from your marble base. I was able to pull the metal off with pliers, and then I cleaned up the residue with Goo Gone and/or scraping with a razor blade.


2. If you’re starting with a trophy, disassemble it by unscrewing the nut in the hole on the bottom of the base with pliers or a wrench.

3. If your copper end caps aren’t as shiny as you’d like, polish them up with some Brasso. Rinse and dry them when you’re done.

4. Once your marble and copper are both clean and dry, put a drop or two of glue on the bottom of the end cap, and stick it to the middle of the trophy base or tile. Press down with your fingers for 30 seconds. Let it dry overnight. It’s that simple.