With a little bit of cardboard, you can make some awesome lanterns easily
Candles and lanterns have an indisputable charm that no type of artificial lighting can replicate: the diffused light they produce is soft, romantic and delicate - and it is for this reason that on certain occasions, you have to use candles, tealights and various lanterns to get this effect and ambiance.
It should also be noted that the candle holders and the lanterns themselves are objects that can be used to decorate the environment. Thus, to achieve an aesthetically pleasing and unique atmosphere, we can use them in our homes as well as outdoors. So, if you are looking for a creative way to make a lantern using only paper and/or thin cardboard, you can follow the tutorial that we present below:
via https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/diy-dimensional-paper-lanterns-2/
Tutorial via apieceofrainbow.com
You will need:
- A long and smooth glass vase or drinking glass, which has a shape like a simple cylinder.
- Battery operated LED candle/s. You can also use a string of LED lights, which are also battery-powered and very small.
- White cardstock / cardboard: Paper is fine too, but it must be thick and of good quality. Also, it must be smooth grained.
- Sheets of colored tracing paper: these will be used to line the inside of the latern and give off a colored shade to the light. Alternatively, you could use colored tissue paper.
- A cutting implement (scissors, exacto-knife or similar).
- Scotch tape / stickly tape.
You can use a template (for the cutouts) shown in the tutorial (and found on this page) - but you can also draw whatever motifs and designs you like with a pencil and then cut them out in the same manner.
- Then, using the template with the traced pieces cut out, placed them on top of the white sheet. Otherwise you can draw the designs directly on the paper with a pencil.
- Carefully cut out with your cutting tool, each flap of paper that you will have to lift (they are the ones that give the three-dimensional effect), help yourself with a round-tipped butter knife.
- Line the inside of the white sheet with one of the colored ones, securing it with tape.
- Wrap the sheet around the glass jar in order to obtain the desired cylindrical shape, and secure with scotch tape.
If the cardboard is tall enough to hide the vase or glass, you can leave it inside so that you can also use wax candles. Otherwise, simply insert the LED light into the decorated paper cylinder, et voilà - you have a latern in no time at all.
Tutorial via apieceofrainbow.com
The process that requires the most patience, therefore, is the cutting out the designs you want to use in 3D. If you have an electric cutter (and the requisite software skills), you can use that to reduce the effort required.
Great job!
