A String of Paper Lanterns Is Magical
Seeing a line of paper lanterns, hanging in the window is something special. Whether you are having a party or just decorating your living space, the paper lanterns will put a smile on your face.
Each paper lantern can be made with interesting papers. Or individually decorated to your personal taste.
What You Need To Make A Paper Lantern
- Sheets of A4 paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Ribbons to decorate
Make a Hanging Loop for Your Paper Lantern
Get your A4 sheet a paper. Cut a 1cm wide strip of paper from the end of the A4 sheet. We need this strip to make the hanging loop for our paper lantern.
Now cut a square, 20cms x 20cms from the remaining paper.
Fold the square in half and crease down the fold.
Cutting the Paper Lantern Slits
Now we use scissors to cut through the folded side of the paper. Cut through the fold and all the way toward the other side, but not all the way. Stop approximately 3cms from the other side of the paper.
Now continue cutting slits at 2cms intervals. To make things easier you can draw the slits with a pencil first.
Gluing Our Paper Lantern
Finally, we need to glue our paper lantern. This can be tricky to understand.
First we need to gently unfold the paper we were cutting the slits into. Don't completely flatten it, just unfold it. Place the paper so the slits are going horizontally.
Whilst the paper is horizontal we can understand that the left and right sides will become the top and bottom of the paper lantern.
So take the left hand side and twist the paper so it is at the top. Now we want to curl this top edge into a ring and glue it when it meets the other side. Do the same for the bottom. Let the glue dry.
Once the glue is dried. Gently push down on the paper lantern to make the strips spread out.
How To Finish Our Paper Lantern
Remember when we cut a strip of paper off at the beginning. Now we can glue this on at the top of our lantern. This will be the hanging loop. So glue the ends of the strips to each side.
Finish off your paper lantern by decorating it how you like. Maybe use glitter or felt tips pens or pompoms and buttons. Here we have stuck some ribbons around the edges.
Hand fun making paper lanterns.
