Another lantern tutorial

It’s a grey, rainy day here in southern France – disappointing as today is a public holiday.

I thought some bright, cheery colour would help the situation so here is a mini-tutorial for another lantern makeover I completed the other week.

This lantern came from Castorama (which I think is only in Europe), but you could easily adapt any rice paper lantern to the task.

My lantern was already half green (full green would make the room look really weird at night), but it needed a little something extra, I thought. Wary of how long the bunting lantern took me I was keen for something more instantly gratifying this time round, so paper it had to be.

Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts

 I started with a 10€ lantern and a butterfly paper punch.
Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts
I turned the lantern upside down and used a throw-away BBQ skewer and some matching paint to highlight the framework on the white half of the lantern. (At this stage you could paint the top half of a plain lantern if you liked.)
Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts
When the paint was dry, I started thinking about butterfly placement. I decided to go heavy with the green and accent with the red. The framework sectors were helpful in arranging a layout.
Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts

I went with a starburst pattern; heavy at the bottom and sparser at the top. Kind of like the little suckers were fleeing the lantern. I just used a dab of craft glue to stick them on.

Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts

For the top (green) half of the lantern I considered the same in reverse. Perhaps heavy on the white.
Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts

Or maybe the red?

Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts
Or maybe use the empty cut outs in some way?
In the end, given it was the top and wouldn’t really be seen, I went with a more even pattern.
Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts

Here it is back up on the ceiling.

Rice paper lantern makeover - a paper tutorial by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts

Happily, IKEA makes a  red light fitting that matches perfectly!

Perhaps not as flash as the bunting one, but so much quicker and easier to make. And with all the different paper punches out there, you could easily create a masterpiece.

Hope your week’s started off well, and not as wet as ours. I’ll be back a little later today with a little giveaway. Nothing earth shattering, but hopefully inspirational for someone!

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10 thoughts on “Another lantern tutorial”

  2. Not sure where your Castorama is but there is one in Paris near place de clichy – on the way to the Montmartre cemetary. I spend far too much of my time visiting dead people in Paris!

    One weekend with a UK friend we spent the morning visiting the kings and queens at St Denis and the afternoon visiting Jim, Edith and Oscar at Pere Lachaise.

    love the butterfly effect (and I’d use the cutouts on cards maybe filled with sead beads?)

    Eli
    x

    Reply

  5. Your a dab hand at all these fancy lampshades, don’t think I’ll ever have to buy a ready made shade again. Keep the ideas coming I love em.
    Pene x

    Reply

  9. Love the lantern make-over! Miss 13 would love one for her bedroom make-over – thanks for the inspiration.

    When we rented a house in France we were so surprised that the previous tenants removed all the light fittings, curtains, shelving, etc. Ikea was a real lifesaver!

    Reply

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