Raise your hand if you had one of these “candle lanterns” in your house 30 years ago? I am 99% sure we had one in ours…so when I saw this one at the thrift store, I snapped it up because I had a Halloween idea in mind.
Just waiting for a makeover…
Historically, I’ve made light-up Halloween projects using old light fixtures. But this time, I decided to make a Halloween lantern! This post contains affiliate links for your crafting convenience.
Here’s a better view of the candle lantern (sans the candle) once I got it down from the top shelf.
Ok- time to disassemble…
As with all things from the thrift store, it needed a good cleaning. Thankfully, it was easy to deconstruct (just four flat-head screws to remove) so that I could wipe down the wood parts and clean off the grime from the glass plates.
Easy-peasy breakdown…
Once everything was wiped down, I spray painted the wooden parts black– it’s a Halloween project after all. Heck, even if it wasn’t for Halloween, it looks awfully nice in black- much more stylish.
It already looks 100 times better!
To make my lantern unique (and keep it simple), I decided to use cellophane treat bags (these are the exact ones I used) with a fun Halloween print. Bear with me- it’s worth it, I promise.
To bring my lantern to life…
All I needed to do was create cellophane “inserts” that were the same size and shape as the glass panes, and then slide them behind the glass. Right? Right…but…I was a little concerned that the cellophane would be TOO transparent, and that my light source would be visible at night.
So, I decided to add a little insurance to each side of the lantern. Thankfully, I came up with a super easy fix- rectangles of white parchment paper from my kitchen! The parchment paper would allow light to shine through…but would cleverly diffuse the light (and mask the source).
To diffuse the light from within!
So I set to work tracing the glass panes on parchment, cutting them out, and then cutting out same size rectangles from the cellophane bags. I slid each pair of inserts behind the four glass panes, and was ready to fully re-assemble my lantern.
Looking good, eh?
Ta-da! My Halloween lantern is cute enough in the daytime, no light source needed…
How cute is that??
But this was the moment I was waiting for- darkness! I used a battery operated LED light and set it inside my Halloween lantern- and look at that. The cellophane gives it life and the secret (shhh!) parchment paper allows the light to be distributed more evenly.
Booooooo, ahhhhh….
And irony of ironies- if you remove the cellophane inserts but leave the parchment paper, it looks like a trendy lantern from a contemporary home décor store! So it really is an all-year project, but with a Halloween bonus.
Craft on!
S
Looking for more Holiday DIY projects? Check out DIYIdeaCenter to get inspired- for any holiday!
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The post From Blah to Boo- A Halloween Lantern appeared first on Sadie Seasongoods.