Space-limited Solution With an Upgraded Toy

We live in a very small apartment and have to deal with all our stuff in a tiny area. It became even harder when our little kid was born. It’s hard to create a cozy atmosphere when you live amongst toys, diapers and other stuff. We did not have space for both baby toys and a stylish living room, but now I found a solution. Make a candleholder of your child’s toy! During daytime your child can play with it and in the evening when the baby sleeps it is transformed into a modern candlelight which lights up the evening and spreads a romantic atmosphere. That safes space and money!

A beautiful toy on daytime.... and a cozy candlelight at night. This is the favorite toy of our child and the parts always lay around all over the place. Perfect to make a candlelight for during the evenings and transform it back again for some playing the day after.

- a toy which you anyway have to pick up at the end of the day

- a (pillar) drill

- a saw

- copper tube Lenght 2.8 inch, 0.8 inch diameter

- tin foil

- copper coin

-soldering iron

- solder

- epoxy glue

- sanding maskin, or sanding paper

- sanding paper

-a rasp

- paint color

- pipe cutters

- brass polish, or citron, tomato ketchup........

- candle

I had to sand part of the head to create a larger surface. I needed to do this as the copper tube needed to be inserted and I needed a larger surface for drilling. Cut a dowel with a saw. Plug the hole with a dowel that fit as this will make it easier to drill a hole with a 0.8 inch drill. The dowel was a little bit tiny so I solved this by wrapping tape around before I put it in the hat and started to drill.

Drill a hole with a drill (0,8 inch) to a depth of 0.8 inch. I drilled with my pillar drill (Sorry I am a little bit tired after a sleepless night with an awake child. I forgot to take a picture)

Cut the tube with a pipe cutters. I cut it 2.8 inch. Smoothen the inside of the tube with a rasp. Sand the edges with sanding paper. Polish the tube with brass polish.

It is easy to fall asleep after a hard day at work or a day playing with your child and we don’t want to set the house on fire. So we are going to solder a copper coin in the tube this will prevent that the burning candle reach the wooden toy and destroy it. Something we don’t want to happen it will make your child upset and you will have to find exactly the same toy.

Chose a copper coin that fits in the tube, or make it fit. I used a rasp to grind the edges. Put some tin foil in the tube this will hold your coin on the right place. Solder your coin. In this instructables tells Noahw how to do it: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-solder/

Or if you are too tired you simply fill half of the tube with tin foil.

There are many ways to polish your copper. Did you know that you can do it with lemon or even ketchup? Check it out here if you don’t have a buffing machine.

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Copper

Paint the surface of the hat in the same or a different colour.

Put the toy/candleholder together. I chose to not glue the tube so that it still can be used as toy as well and everybody is happy. I put some tape on the end of the tube to fit it perfectly in the hole.

Your last step is to light the candle and relax. There are days that you are too tired to clean up....no problem. Use only the hat as a candleholder and just let the other thinks lay around for more playing the next day.