DIY Decorative 'Lantern' Candle Holder of Cardboard

Do you want to learn how to make a lantern candle holder with minimum cost of cardboard? Today I will tell you how to do that. It is perfect for a Christmas photo shoot or interior. In shops I always look at all sorts of lamps, but sometimes the price is too high and I came up with the idea to make it by myself. Moreover, the cost of a lantern is very small, you only need to spend a little of your time.

You can print and make a pattern, but in this case I prefer to cut it by myself, not to outline a pattern. There will be errors anyway, and the details will not be the same, the lamp can be curved. It is written on the pattern how to calculate it. The pattern specifies the size of the small lantern.

Draw on binder's cardboard (or on bookboard) details of the lantern and cut with a utility knife.

Cut four parts.

Cut out 8 strips with a size of 20*1.5 cm of bookboard and apply them to our workpiece, mark the corners of the cut. The top is different from the bottom, if you are afraid to get confused, mark the top side.

Glue the side strips, at this stage I glued with a glue stick. Mark the corner of the cut at the top and bottom strips.

Cut 4 connecting side strips with a size of 18.5*2 cm of watercolor paper, 4 bottom details with a size of 10.3*2 cm, 4 top details with a size of 6.5*2 cm, score them in the middle, bend and cut the corners at an angle of 45 degrees.

First, glue the top and bottom connecting strips, always use superglue.

Then glue the side connecting strips. Leave them to dry a little.

Meanwhile, cut the bottom with a size of 10.8*10.8 cm, make the legs of four layers of cardboard with a size of 2*2 cm. Glue the legs layers together and glue them to the bottom.

Connect the side details of the lantern.

Smear the connecting strips with glue and glue them to the bottom.

Cut the top part of the lantern with a size of 7*7 cm and glue, then cut three squares with a size of 6*6 cm and glue them together. Now glue them to the top of the lantern.

Cut four parts for the dome of the lantern of bookboard and connecting strips with a size of 9*2 cm, 4*2 cm, 5*2 cm, 4 pieces of each size.

Glue the connecting strips in the same manner as the lantern. Let the glue dry, it will be easier to glue after that and the details won't fall apart.

Glue the parts of the dome, cut the bottom with a size of 9*9 cm.

Glue the bottom of the dome and cut the top part of the dome with a size of 5*5 cm, do not glue it. Glue the dome to the lamp.

Cut the strips with a size of 20*1 cm of bookboard (I do not suggest using binder's cardboard here), for the small lamp cut strips with a size of 15*0,7 cm.

Glue the strips criss-cross in the openings of the lantern.

Ensure that strips go out strictly from the corner as in the photo, in order to avoid distortions.

You can paint your lamp as you want :) I needed a lantern with wood imitation, take texture paste, dilute a little with water to the consistency of sour cream and paint the lantern with a brush with stiff bristles.

Apply the paste with waves imitating wood.

Use craquele paste to age the lantern.

The paste is applied freely, let it dry.

I put the lantern to the radiator, it dries faster like this. After drying, the pasta cracks, it looks like old paint that is already flaking from the surface.

Now make the handle for the lantern, I took a handle of a jewelry box and replaced a small ring with a slit ring for albums. Make a hole in the middle of the top of the dome and insert the handle. For the small lantern I used a piece of a furniture handle, so you can make a handle of any available items :)

On the reverse side straighten the mustache and glue, thus the ring won't jump out when we carry the lantern.

Now you can glue the top of the dome.

It remains to paint the lantern, paint neatly, paying attention to all the places which are hard to reach. Paint the interior part..

When the paint was dry I used a dry brush with black paint to highlight the texture and cracks.

You can only put artificial candles Inside the lantern, you can NOT use real candles!!! It may catch fire.

I'm very, very pleased that you find the time and stop by to visit! I hope that my tutorial will be useful! Happy New Year!

If you have any questions after viewing this tutorial, I will gladly answer them in comments.