If you grew up with the classic ’90s Disney Channel movies, chances are when you hear “black flame candle” you’re instantly ready for Halloween.
The Black Flame Candle has become iconic for Disney lovers and will bring the spooky feeling of Halloween into full swing before the candle is even lit.
For those who don’t know what this candle is, you may be wondering, what exactly is it? No matter if you are a Disney classic movie connoisseur or unknowing of these, I’m sure we’re all thinking the same: how do you get one?
Unfortunately, obtaining a black flame candle isn’t as simple as it should be. In fact, there are no actual candles that can produce a black flame, as cool as they are. While that’s a complete let down to those classic Disney movie lovers, there are ways that you can create your own black flame candle, if you’re feeling crafty. While you can’t buy a candle with a black flame, though, there is some science behind creating a black flame.
The black flame candle has left ’90s kids feeling the Halloween spirit and, now that they’re adults, wanting to bring the spookiness into their own homes. While we can’t have the actual black flame candle in our home, we are able to bring the black flame candle into our home in a more crafty way. For those of you who have no clue what the black flame candle is, don’t fret, because by the end of this post, I’ll have you wishing these candles were real, too.
Read more: Best Halloween Candles
What is the Black Flame Candle?
Let’s start out by taking a trip back to 1993. The Sanderson Sisters are most likely dominating your Disney Channel experience with commercials promising a spooky experience filled with witches and magic and Halloween night. Picture for a moment that you’re sitting in your local theater with your bucket of popcorn, watching the premiere of Hocus Pocus after the anticipation from all of these commercials.
If you’re a child as you sit and watch this movie unfold, you may be fearing the resurrection of the Sanderson Sisters and hoping that Max, a virgin, doesn’t light the black flame candle. Regardless of your hopes and fears, Max lights the candle, and the orange flame ignites before turning black, finishing off a spell created by Winifred Sanderson, the head of the sister trio, to bring them back from the dead.
Despite the spooky backstory, and possible fuel for childhood nightmares, the black flame candle has remained an icon and there’s no question as to why. Any ’80s and ’90s children that grew up watching this movie every year is probably now an adult wishing they were able to have their own black flame candle.
This famous candle is a pillar candle with drawings embedded on the sides, including the drawing of the Sanderson Sisters’ death. The candle looks completely normal until it’s lit. What starts as a normal, yellow-orange flame almost immediately turns black with an orange halo around it. The look of this candle is perfect for any spooky Halloween aesthetic. The question still remains, though, how can you get one?
How to Get Your Hands on a Black Flame Candle
Okay, so we’ve already established that getting a black flame candle isn’t as easy as just going to the store and buying one. Unfortunately, any candle you buy will only have the standard yellow-orange flame. There are plenty of Etsy shops that offer their own versions of the black flame candle and there are even black colored candles that you can find, but none of them are going to have an actual black flame.
If you truly want a black flame candle, you’re going to have to make it yourself, which may sound daunting, but it’s easier than you may think. You’ll only need a few items, the most important being a battery powered pillar candle, preferably one that looks like it’s been used before. We’ll take this step by step to make this project even easier. For the first step, you’ll need:
- Tissue paper
- White printer paper
- Tape
- Iron
- Candle graphic (whether it’s one you create or find online)
This part can be kind of tricky, so it’s best to take your time with it. Once you figure out what kind of graphic you want to use for your candle, it’s time to print it out onto the tissue paper. You can’t just put tissue paper into your printer and expect it to print, so you’ll want to cut the tissue paper to be about a half inch smaller than a piece of printer paper.
Making sure your tissue paper is free of wrinkles (iron it with a warm iron if you need to), carefully tape it to a sheet of printer paper. Then, you can run it through the printer and you’ll end up with your graphic printed onto the tissue paper.
For this next part, you’re going to need the following materials:
- Glue stick
- Scissors
- Electric Candle
Now, we’re going to put our graphic onto our candle. Start by cutting your design out, sticking as close to the design as possible so you leave very little unused tissue paper. You’re now going to carefully glue your graphic onto the candle, making sure to take care to prevent wrinkles from forming. If your candle has the look of being previously burned, carefully cut the graphic so that it follows the form of your candle.
Now we’re going to get onto the black flame part. For this part, you’re going to need:
- Gold paint
- Black paint
- Paintbrush
For this part, you’re going to paint the inner part of your fake flame black. After the black paint dries, go along the outline of the flame with the gold paint. This part is, probably, the easiest part as long as you have a steady hand. After you let the candle’s flame dry, you can add some further detail if you really want to. For this optional part, you’re going to need:
- An actual candle in the same color as your electric candle
- Lighter, preferably one that is easy to hold for a prolonged time
In this part, we’re going to melt the real candle in order to make wax drips on our fake candle. Hold the real candle over the fake candle while you’re melting the wax and let the wax drip down the side of the electric candle. Once this step is finished, you have your very own black flame candle worthy of bringing the Sanderson Sisters back from the dead. Slight warning, though, you may want to consider not doing that.
The Science Behind Creating an Actual Black Flame
While having an actual black flame candle may not be possible, a black flame is, but it should be left up to the professionals to create. Professional scientists, that is. To create this flame, you’re going to need to create a sodium flame that is in the light of a sodium light. By just having a sodium flame, you’re going to have an orange flame but by adding in the sodium light, you’re going to find that the flame appears to be outlined in black.
While it’s not the same as having a candle with the black flame in the center, it is still pretty interesting that a black flame can be created. Let’s just try to keep this flame away from the Sanderson Sisters’ candle. We don’t need them coming back so soon!
Final Thoughts
The ’90s gave us many things to be thankful for and many things to cringe at and hope to eventually forget. The black flame candle, though, is something that should remain timeless and always bring the spirit of Halloween into the hearts of ’80s and ’90s children. While you can’t have an actual black flame candle, you can make your own from a battery operated electric candle fairly easily.