welcome, cozy candle season!

What a perfect day to be working on new candlesticks from vintage croquet mallets - rainy and cool, candle weather.  This is one of my favorite projects - clever, elegant and simple repurpose.  A few coats of poly really brings out the beauty of the paint and the years of dings and dents from vigorous croquet bouts.  Can you play croquet in a vigorous manner?  Will the guy I bought these from ever forgive me for repurposing them?