Creating a lovely round candle sporting a mini-mosaic design.

Using a craft knife, you need to cut off both the top and the bottom of the ball to make it sit properly. Scoop out the center of the upper half of the ball so as to be able to place a candle flat in the recess. Leave wide edges around the top of the recess.  

To make a wave motif, draw a curvy line in pencil half-way up the ball. Apply glue above this curve in a band about 0.4 inches wide and an inch long. Place the first tesserae (little tiles) into 1 or 2 rows, using tesserae of the same color.

Following the line of the curve, glue on more squares to form lines in other colors,  1 or 2 tesserae high, going all the way round the ball. You may also try out very different designs on one side of the ball: here we have a star in shades of green.

Using a craft stick, cover the tesserae with joint compound (here in ecru (off-white) for a softer look). Cover the edges and inside of the ''hole'' where the candle will sit too (this will hold the polystyerene together and stop it crumbling). Do not leave to dry, but remove the excess joint compound with a slightly damp sponge. With a soft, dry cloth, remove any traces of joint left on the tesserae, without dislodging the tiles.

The mini-mosaic used here is made from synthetic materials: the tiles come in lovely colors and are easy to glue on but... a word of warning, it's especially difficult to remove joint compound stuck to these little tesserae (unless you do it one tile at a time...).This is not the case with traditional ceramic mosaic tiles or D'Clic pre-cut tesserae, which I've already tested. In any case, it gives an unexpected 'powdery' effect to this ball candle!