Between the husband and myself, he is more hands-on when it comes to arts and crafts. I can’t draw like him, and I can’t DIY anything too complicated like him. Recently, he made lanterns for the children and they love it!
So, to spread the love of DIY-ing for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, the husband put together the following (with some help from me! Haha!) – A step by step guide on how to make your own paper lantern! You can choose any design you want, the steps are the same. Just follow your design’s shape! Alright! Here goes!
First, you need to gather all these materials:
1. Colouring pencils/markers
2. Scissors
3. Glue
4. Wire (approximately 3m)
5. Coloured Paper
6. String
7. Lantern sticks
And now, onto the step by step, visual aided guide to make your own lantern:
1. Select a design or design your own
Ensure that lantern design is not overly complicated and should not have features that protrude too much from main body
2. Draw out the design on the paper for both left and right sides.
Ensure both sides are the same size and shape i.e. Mirror image of each other. Add colours to the patterns and drawings, if you wish to.
3. Twist and shape the wire to the outline of the design.
4. Join the open ends of the wire to each side by twisting them together.
5. Cut out the left and right sides with tabs.
One side should have at least 10-15 tabs. There should be two tabs for each major turn/intersection/end. Each tab should be about 1 cm wide and 1.5 cm long.
6. Attach the left and right sides to the wire frame to create the lantern.
7. Create 6-7 struts of about 15 cm.
8. Use the struts to join the two left and right sides together.
Join them at each major acute angle based on your unique lantern design to create the lantern wire frame.
9. Create a candle holder using wire and secure one end each to the left and right sides.
10. Create two strips of paper with tabs for the front and back sides.
One strip of paper should be at least 10-11cm wide to ensure it provides enough space for the burning candle. It should have about 10-15 tabs. There should be two tabs for each major turn/intersection/end. Each tab should be about 1 cm wide and 1.5 cm long.
11. Attach string to the lantern for the lantern stick.
ALL DONE!
