Paper Lantern D.I.Y.

Hi Hello There,

I love working with paper. It's my favorite medium. I love to fold it, cut it, shape it and even integrate it into my paintings like so:

See? Lots of paper. The second painting has over 75 paper hearts attached. That took FOREVER...

Back to the project. Here's what you'll need, Holmes:

Scissors
Paper
Tape
Wire (You may use any type of household wire like garden wire or a wire hanger.  I used copper.)
Wire Cutters
Pliers
Fishing Wire
Thumb Tack
Yarn (Optional)
Spray Paint (Optional)

You may leave the paper white if you prefer a crisp, clean look.
If you decide to paint the snowflakes, here are the other items you will need:

Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes
Paper Plate or Painter's Palette
Varnish (Optional for a high gloss look)

Most paper snowflake tutorials start off with a square piece of paper. If you are using standard printer paper, you are probably looking at a rectangle right now. Here's how you get perfect squares:

Fold edge down like in the photo to the left. 

Cut the residual rectangle off. Open your paper and, HURRAY! you have a square.
Begin cutting variations of paper snowflakes. Here are the ones I chose:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Snowflake
http://highhopes.com/snowflakes.html
I made 9 snowflakes total.
Next, if you wish to add color, now is the time. Grab your acrylic paint and get your paint on.

Make sure you don't saturate your paintbrush with too much water. Your snowflake will fall apart.
Allow to dry for 10 minutes. When all of your snowflakes are dry, put them under a large book to flatten for 30 minutes.
Prepare your layout.

Tape where the snowflakes meet so that they look like a long sheet (as seen above).
Measure your wire to the width of your snowflake panel. I like to cut the wire just a bit smaller than the sheet. If you are using a thin wire, double up.
Form your wire into a circle.
Cut another piece of wire that is about an inch longer than the diameter (Geometry whut whut) of your wire circle. Mark the middle of your wire strand and begin to form a loop that looks like this:

Twist the base of your loop to keep it in tact. Attach this part to your circle so that the finished product ends up like this:

If you wish to spray paint your wire, do so at this point. I chose to wrap yarn around mine for a more finished look.
Begin to tape the paper to the circumference of your circle.

After you are done taping your snowflakes to the circle, tape together the two ends of your snowflake panel so that it looks like a tube.

String fishing wire to the loop and hang with a thumbtack.
Viola!

Le Snowflake Lantern!
I'd love to see what you guys come up with on your own. Perhaps a whole ceiling installation? Rainbows of color?
Send me your ideas to starryeyedcharlie@yahoo.com.


Lots O' Love,

Charlie