It's that time of year again...
... when shadows grow darker, the sun sets earlier and rises later, and everything seems to pull inward as the season sets in.
So what better time to create a little light and warmth!
Last year I used fall leaves as inspiration to light the night, but this year the shadows of dried plants and increasingly leafless trees really caught my eye. So I traced the shadow of a plant on to a piece of water color paper to create a painting pattern and then set work adding the color with some great finger paints.
Next I cut out star shapes from the paper and picked out a few pieces of silk paper to add as backing.
Then I glued the silk paper to the backside of the stars, rolled the water color paper into a tube and stapled it together. Next up was creating a bottom. To do this I traced out the bottom of the tube and gave it a 1/2" allowance all the way around. I then made cuts into the paper every half inch or so around the outer edge to the original diameter of the traced bottom. And finally I dabbed some glue on each tab and worked them into the inside base of the lantern. Last but not least I glued a tea candle to the bottom and strung some raffia at the top so the lantern could be hung from a stick.
It may be getting darker outside, but that is all the more reason to creat light and warmth from with in.
Happy crafting!
~Jordan
* Last time in nature: First Snow
