I am now a grown up. And by grown up, I mean I own (and actually use) candles. I recently bought this monogrammed votive candle , promptly burnt it to the wick and then became sad that my new favourite candle was gone.  I wanted more, but didn’t fancy a trip to the supermarket every few days. Candles always feel very indulgent, but I felt this could be exaggerated even more by creating a huge window-display worthy version of my own.

What  you will need:

• Large vase
• Candle wax (as a general rule, you need twice the amount of wax required to fill your vessel; I used 2kg of this)
• Waxed candle wicks (make sure they are long enough to fit your vessel; I used these)
• Black sticky back vinyl (I used this)

1. Draw your monogram onto the grid side of the vinyl. I made a template to ensure a clean finish, using Times New Roman in size 600. Cut this out.

2. Gently peel the back off the letter. Be careful not to let the vinyl stick to itself.

3. Position the vinyl onto a clean, dry vase. When happy with the positioning, apply even pressure to the vinyl to secure and remove and air bubbles.

4. To prepare my wicks, I encased the tips in long strips of Sellotape, and affixed these to the rim of the vase, so that the sustainers (the small metal discs) touched the bottom of the vase.

5. With your vase ready, you can melt the wax. SAFETY DISCLAIMER: Do not melt any type of wax directly in a pan or a microwave, avoid direct contact with a naked flame and do not leave melting wax unattended. To melt the wax safely, create a bain marie (a double boiler for all you Americans). This requires you to fill a pan with a couple of inches of water. In this pan, place another pan-or as I did, a Pyrex jug (this makes the wax easier to pour later) – into which you can place your wax. This regulates the temperature at which the wax melts. NB. Wax is notoriously difficult to clean, so anything you use should be bought/used specifically for candle-making, and not for food preparation.

6. When the wax has melted, remove from the heat and slowly pour into your vessel, avoiding any Sellotape. The paraffin wax I used took around 45 minutes to melt – you’ll know when it’s fully melted as it will look like water, and have a similar consistency.

7. Paraffin wax typically takes 24 hours to harden, but since this candle is so large, I recommend waiting 48-72 hours before using.

When you (finally) burn this candle out, repeat steps 4-7 ad infinitum!