Make A Paper Lantern:
Free Printable Paper Lantern Craft Idea
How to make a paper lantern: Free printable paper lantern crafts that double as great printable gifts and are very easy to assemble!
- Instructions: How to make paper lanterns
- How to make a lantern: tips & tricks to design your own!
- Download 3 paper lantern craft patterns
How To Make A Paper Lantern, Part 1.1:
Materials & Tools
I came up with this paper lantern craft idea to create an elegant 'closure' for the lantern. So, instead of a back seam ...
... the left and right edges of the paper overlap
to give the printed design a 'shadow backing' of the same size and shape.
You will need:
- quality, printable parchment paper
- a (metal) ruler
- scissors
- roll-on adhesive or a UHU stick (the purple UHU glue stick is great because you can see exactly where you've put the glue. It dries completely clear.)
- battery powered tea lights (LEDs) - [caution: do not use live candles inside these paper lanterns!]
- Alternative to scissors: a craft knife & a cutting mat.
How To Make A Paper Lantern, Part 1.2:
Just Cut & Paste!
Download & cut out the paper lantern craft pattern of your choice,
making sure that there are no black borders visible at the top, bottom, & left side.
Tease the sheet of paper into the right shape by placing it face down & rolling it up in the direction of the pattern edge.
Test the look: Correctly aligned, the printed design should have a paper 'shadow'
of the same size and shape behind it.
With the paper face down, distribute glue along the edge of the printed design,
making sure that all extruding bits have glue on them (as indicated above left, in blue).
Carefully roll the paper up again. Check that the edges underneath line up with the printed design on top.
Glue together once all sides are perfectly aligned.
How To Make A Paper Lantern, Part 2:
Design Your Own Paper Lantern Craft Pattern!
The designs on this page were made using copyright-free stencils from a lovely little
book by K. Prakash: 250 Stencil Designs from India (Dover Design Library).
If you would like to design your own paper lantern crafts, here are some books to check out:
So how do you make a paper lantern from one of these designs?
a) Create a master copy/template:
- Scan or copy (if necessary, resize) a design/stencil - or draw your own!
- Print & cut out the design.
- Place it on the right-hand side of a white sheet of paper (A4 or letter size)
- Draw the upper and lower borders of your template.
- Copy the left border of the design to the left margin of your paper lantern template.
- The designs that work best have a clear, uninterrupted, simple outline. When you combine different stencils or patterns, make sure there's no 'dead' space between them, like there is in the photo below right - the shadow looks awkward because it's not part of the actual pattern (that's why I'm not offering this design as a download!)
b) Make paper lanterns:
- Print the finished template onto parchment.
- Cut out & glue together as described above!
How To Make A Paper Lantern, Part 3:
Download Your Paper Lantern Craft Patterns!
You will need Adobe Reader installed on your computer (the latest version is recommended) in order to open and print the paper lantern craft patterns. You can download Adobe Reader here (a new window will open so you can download it without leaving this page).
If you want to open the files in your browser window, just click on the links.
To download the files to view later, right-click on the links and choose "Save Target As" or "Save File As". Then select where you want to save the file on your hard drive.
Once you have saved the file, locate where you saved it, and double-click to open.
In order to print the pattern to make a paper lantern, open the downloaded file, and select the "Print" option from the menu.
Right-click to download
Paper Lantern Craft Pattern #1
Right-click to download
Paper Lantern Craft Pattern #2
Right-click to download
Paper Lantern Craft Pattern #3
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There are lots of ways to make a paper lantern - check out some of these:
- How to make paper lanterns F-A-S-T (from stuff you have at home)
- Christmas craft gift: Make a paper lantern you can send in the post!
- Try making paper lanterns from doilies and plastic cups
- Explore simple & effective folded paper lantern craft ideas (easy paper and craft projects for children!)
Yet to find the information you're looking for? Type a word or phrase into the search box below:
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