Elven Interior Decorating Continued : How to make Elven Lanterns (inspired by "Moroccan Lamps") out of Posterboard, tissue paper, and an electric candle

So here is my tutorial on DIY Elven lamps from posterboard, tissue paper, and an electric (Christmas Decor) candle.

 

 
"Moroccan Lamp" inspired Elven lanterns, from poster board and tissue paper. For really cheap.

So I had posted how much I loved Moroccan lanterns, how Elven they looked. I want to hang up a bunch throughout my house, the way the elves strung lanterns between the trees.
I alas, neither had the budget for that (cheapest lanterns, 15 bucks x 10....yeah..), nor the skill to make my own out of metal (and while I still hope to do that one day, adding up the cost of sheet metal and jeweler's saws and all, it still not be cheap)

I brainstormed a bit before, especially after seeing Helen Hiebert's Shadow Lantern, and then last night all the pieces came together.

And I made this. For cheap. Really really cheap. So now I can make 10 for under 10 bucks (not counting the electric candles. Check Christmas Clearance for those).

You will need:

• White tissue paper (the kind you stuff gift bags with)
• Scotch tape 
• Double sided tape (optional)
• Posterboard
• Spray Paint
• An electric candle, the kind that uses a 4 watt night light bulb. (Usually a Christmas Decoration)

The tools you will need are

• Utility Knife
• Cutting mat (can use a few layers of posterboard, or a large piece of scrapwood)
• Pencil with eraser

1. Posterboards usually come 22"x28", I used half a posterboard, cutting a piece about 11.5 x 22" and folding it into fourths (make sure they are nice and crisp folds as you can manage).
2. Then I drew (or stencil) with the pencil the design onto each panel, leaving a 3/4-1" border on each panel for the edges.
3. Here's the long part, cut out the cutouts with the utility knife. I've found cutting from non-shiny side to shiny side made for the cleanest cut. Not exactly sure why. Plug away, its worth it.
4. Now spray paint the thing your color of choice. I did gold metallic spray paint. I'm going to try not spray painting it at all and trying a white-on-white look like lace. You could do black, and use colored tissue paper for a stained glass look.
5. Tape tissue paper panels to the inside, using the scotch tape and the double sided tape.
6. Tape it together, put the candle (no more than 4 watts! That's all I can vouch for. And you know fire risk and all that, make sure the electric candle is smack in the middle and not pushed up against any of the sides. If you want to use more wattage, then brainstorm for more fire resistant materials or something)
7. Glory in your success....

See, make sure the bulb isn't pressed against an edge...

Making my room like Rivendell: Elven Interior Decorating part 1: DIY Elven Lantern Ideas

UPDATE: Lamp made here, still working on more lamps and the banners...

So I've been into this nesting syndrome thing, and as always, want to make my rooms beautiful.

I think I'm going to make this (on posterboard) and rig up some sort of lighting in front of it. Maybe I'll string white Christmas lights around it, wrapped up in some old chiffon curtains. Or something.
Maybe just an electric candle near it. Or something.

Or maybe I'll have another go at Elven lanterns. We be cheap right now, so I think I'll start with white cloth stretched over a frame from wooden dowels kinda like this one...

This is a legit nice shadow lantern by Helen Hiebert

I'll just slip the posterboard behind the fabric, to get that gorgeous white on white look of Helen Hiebert's Shadow Lantern.

UPDATE: I found a helpful link on how to do cardboard shadow lanterns

OR I'll do a moroccan/elven looking cut out on posterboard, perhaps sprayed with metallic spray paint, and overlay it on the fabric. To look kinda like this.

Ofcourse, Mine will be sitting on a table, with an electric candle on the inside. Perhaps when I get better with wires and things, it wouldn't be too difficult to mount a night-light type of light (the kinds you pull out of those little ceramic Christmas houses) on the inside, and then hang the whole contraption off a wire that you can string the electrical cord through.

Being of cloth and posterboard, (or even, wood cut out), thus flammable, I shall not entrust real fire to the insides of it. Perhaps if the fire was in a glass container like these jar candles from dollar tree....but still. I'll stick with electric first.


OR maybe I'll put fabric paint on it, and make it a sort of shine-through banner...

This could be done fairly easily with fabric paint, minus the script.

Perhaps even with real inks, as you wouldn't need to worry about washability.
If you were going to do that, you could even paint whole designs on it....

I think I'll start with making my room Rivendell.

1. Some form of Elven lantern lighting. I was originally thinking of glorifying a string of white C-9 Christmas lights with paper-lantern like creations, but I think the electric candle in the cloth/paper/wood lantern on a little shelf (wood + L bracket) would be better for now.
2. Some Elven-esque Hangings on the wall. Embroidered banners would be awesome, but as a stand in I think I'm going to do painted posterboard banners, to get a feel for size and color etc. 
3. Some Scripture Hanging type of thing. Written with my caligraphy dip pen in Carolingian Miniscule, because it looks like Elvish. I think Tolkien would approve. I'll probably end up using a chisel-tip sharpie. I think he'll understand.
   
4. Crucifixes. Whenever I draw pictures of Rivendell, they end up in the room. One sketch I did, I left it in, till I'm going to finish it and then erase it. It had to be there for the mood. I still haven't finished the drawing, and I don't know if I'll be able to erase it. My subconscious thinks it belongs there. I think its a mix of how he described Rivendell's architecture (white plaster with dark beams) sounding like an old church/monastery, how Rivendell is a refuge where you go when you're sick/running from enemies (like Medieval Monasteries), and full of books and old relics of things (Medieval Monasteries) and how Elrond is a healer/literary guy/knows a lot---kind of like a Bernard of Clairvaux or something. Plus, the Elves always made me think of Saints. (I know they've got major issues in the Silmarillion. Well, plenty of the saints had major issues too. Black riders run from them, when they're singing about Elbereth Gilthoniel. QED.)
5. I need to clean it.

Preview....

How to Make 'Moroccan' Lamps (and what not to do...)

Rivendell had lanterns. I wonder what they looked like. I kind of imagine them like Moroccan Lanterns, they look so Elven to me..

I had some old lamps in my house, and I was frustrated by their shades blocking a lot of light, focusing most of the light downwards. I wanted them to diffuse the light more. (When there is not enough light in a room, I start going crazy.) So I saw their cloth-covered lampshades (although cream colored) as culprits blocking my light.
So I tore them off. I have no idea how old these lamps are, I got them at a thrift store, but the glue that held the cloth onto the shades was easy to break apart.

(I didn't think of taking a 'before' pic till after I tore off the cloth, hence I had to hold them on for the pic)

all ripped off, and ready for painting!

And I think this pleated cloth will work well for this Medieval hat....


Next I had to clean the gunk off the plastic lamp shade. I did this with Windex.

I was inspired by these 'Moroccan Lanterns' made from jars and gold. Tutorial found here.
http://www.designsponge.com/2011/03/diy-project-moroccan-lanterns.html

I like the dots of the gold paint on the one on the left.

See! Aren't they pretty?!

I had some gold paint, so I fired ahead. The first problem I encountered was the bottle my gold paint was in has a big opening in a great flat headed bottle top. Not like the nice fine-nosed squeeze bottles that Katie used.

So I would not be able to squeeze out delicate little poky things right next to each other.

At this point, I should have waited till I could go to the store and buy a fine-nosed paint tube (could I reuse it by cutting open the bottom of it, refilling, and holding it shut with a paper clamp?) This would have made the process WAY easier, and the paint lines would have looked so much more professional.
But, undaunted I decided to use a paint brush and dab on dots. (I also added a little bit of water to the paint, to make it a consistency I could use with the paint brush)

I had a little trouble with the dots. A lot of trouble. I found that a nice plump dot bled down (since I was painting a vertical surface). A non-plump dot had an ugly scrape from the brush in the middle. So the ideal was something in between, if that in between really exists. And my brush did not make beautiful circular dots.

They are more like ovals. But I used this in the design a little, it was kind of pretty.

And this is what I got.



As you can see, with the lamp off, the mistakes and differences in paint consistency and brush strokes are not as noticeable. With the lamp on and the light shining through it, there is no room for error. Everything shows.


(Here is where using a brush is not a good idea. Because the lamp shade is slippery plastic, the paint doesn't adhere thickly, and no matter how you try, there are brush strokes. often just pushing the paint out to the edges of your stroke)

To cover up the awful brush-strokey-borders, I used (blue) painter's tape, and spray paint. It covered over the messy borders a little. I also added a few more dots to the design.


But, I was still undaunted. I began ripping the fabric off my second lamp.
It totally deconstructed the lampshade, the top spider and the bottom ring falling off. I freaked out. Then I rejoiced, realizing I could solve the paint dots running by painting on a flat surface.
I lay the plastic down on the table, and since I was able to lay it flat I could scrub it with a plastic scrubber and hot water. The gunk came right off, very easily.

Next, I penciled out radial lines, 5" apart at the top, and the beginnings of my designs.
Next, I painted it. It was way easier to paint a flat surface. However, the brush pushing paint away on my stroked remained a problem (making it hard to get a nice thick narrow line...here again, a tiny-nosed squeeze bottle would have been wonderful)

Here it is with the light on, shining through and showing the mistakes

I took my inspiration from henna designs.


Then I had to reassemble the thing. I should have saved the cloth tape, and just put rubber cement on it to freshen up the stickiness.
Instead I used a combination of duct tape and scotch. Then I spray painted the top edge. I found it hard to get the painter's tape to make a nice smooth edge since I am essentially putting a line on a curved surface. I tried to use many pieces, and get the uneveness as part of the design.
Next time, I will trace out the curve when it is still flat, and cut a paper to tape on when it is reassembled. That way the border will be even. I will also paint the border first.

Here is the final thing

Here it is, lights off.

As you can see, still brush-issues and paint thickness issues.



NEXT TIME
-use squeeze bottle!!
-totally deconstruct shade from beginning, save cloth tape
-stencil basic design lines for eveness
-stencil the curves of the top and bottom for spray painting. Spray paint first
- paint the art and dry flat
-reassemble with cloth tape and rubber cement.

Also, next time, I think I want to try this design on a lamp....

 I must get some paint squeeze bottles...
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/tulip-gold-metallic-3d-fashion-paint-744003/