Wednesday, February 2, 2011

tin can lantern tutorial



A lot of people have been asking me how I make my lanterns, so I decided to post a tutorial for everyone who's interested in learning how to make them.

Now I was supposed to do a video of this tutorial but I need a cameraman and I don't have one, and my Mac book is not working at the moment, so I can't edit the video

I want to ask all of you who want to make this lantern to please be careful and wear gloves when you're bending the can (shown in a picture below)

So lets begin! now get down on the floor and give me 20 push-ups before you start because you're going to need all the muscle you have :P


You will need: a clean tin can, scissors, a hammer, 2 beads,a cutter, glue, paper (i used a small paper bag), markers, clothes hanger, measuring tape, screwdriver and pliers

use the hammer and the screw driver to make two holes opposite each other on the top of the can

with the measuring tape, mark the areas where you want to cut the can, make the marks two centimeters apart from the top and the bottom of the can

use a pencil to make a line between the opposite marks to keep the cutting straight, i don't know why i used a marker but if you do, you can wipe it off with nail polish remover after you're done

with the cutter, start cutting along the lines and be very careful.. this is the difficult part 

use gloves and bend the strips from the inside out until you can push the can from the top.



this is how the can should look like

cut the hanger and remove the plastic with the cutter, because the candle will melt the plastic if you keep it, or use a wire hanger without plastic

this is how it should look like after removing the plastic and bending it

put the beads in then bend the wire on each end making an L shape

Insert the wire into the holes

bend the wire up with the pliers


this is how it should look like

cut a piece of paper

glue then wrap the paper around the bottom of the lantern

you can also draw on the paper or use paper with a nice pattern

all you need to do now is light a candle in the lantern and enjoy, i hope you find this tutorial useful, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment :)

5 comments:

  1. LOVE this idea so cool maybe I will work up some guts to try it myself..thanks for sharing

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  2. This is actually a good way to upcycle a tin can!

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  3. Easy, and beautiful! Many Thanks for this tutorial. It's very useful for me. Kisses from Venezuela!

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  4. una lata de conservas no es muy dura para cortar?

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  5. me encanta! gracias por el tutorial

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