Going on a lantern walk is an enchanting experience for young and old. The warm glow of the flickering candle, the dark sky against the bright lanterns, and the taste of a hot cup of apple cider on a cold late autumn’s eve are sure to turn the festival of Martinmas into a longstanding tradition for all family members. In the following tutorial, you will learn to craft two types of miniature lanterns that are sure to bring joy to tiny hands (without the risk of burning themselves) as well as add a magical touch to autumnal seasonal tables.These beautiful lantern crafts come from our friend Franziska at My Seasonal Treasury.
Gather Your Supplies:
These are the tools we used to create our Waldorf Miniature Lanterns:
- Scissors
- Watercolor paper
- Watercolors
- Vegetable oil
- Hole puncher
- Wooden dowels
- Yarn/ golden wire
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- LED tealights
Create your Waldorf Miniature Lanterns
General Instructions:
Basic blueprint:
Step 1:
You will need to use finished watercolor paintings for this craft. You can use paintings you already have on hand or create a new set of wet-on-wet paintings to be used for this craft. Gentle color combinations are especially lovely. Be sure that your paintings have dried completely, before moving on to the next step!
Step 2:
Use a ruler and pencil to cut out rectangles of watercolor paper. They should be about 12.5cm x 7cm and fit snuggly around an LED tealight.
Step 3:
Brush 12cm x 5.4 cm of each rectangle with vegetable oil to make the paper translucent. Be sure to leave a 0.5cm x 1.6 cm margin that is unbrushed. This is where the hot glue will go.
Step 4:
Let your paper dry completely.
Step 5:
Wrap the paper around the LED tealight and use hot glue to hold everything in place. You can glue the paper directly to the LED tealight.
Step 6:
Use a hole puncher to add two holes to the sides of each lantern. String the yarn through the holes and tie it. Attach the yarn to the dowel using hot glue.
Leaf Lanterns:
Step 1:
Follow the general instructions above.
Step 2:
Once the basic lantern has been finished, use Mod Podge and an applicator brush to attach tiny autumn leaves to the outside of the lantern.
Step 3:
Let dry completely before going on a lantern walk.
Chinese Lanterns:
Step 1:
Follow the general instructions above until and including step 4
Step 2:
Here, you will need to draw in an additional margin at the top of the lantern (1 cm) and use a crafting knife and self-healing surface (rubber mat or something similar) to make incisions within the inner rectangle. The incisions should be approximately 1 cm apart.
Step 3:
Fold the piece of paper in half lengthwise. This will cause the incisions to “open up”.
Step 4:
If you end up having residual pencil marks at the top of the lantern, you can use a little golden crafting foil to create a golden rim around the lantern.
Step 5:
Proceed with steps 5 and 6.
Step 6:
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