DIY Yarn Lantern and Votive Holders

Hi there....Today's post is about yarn lanterns which is a rage right now....
As promised in my earlier post Diwali 2014 , I am now explaining you the procedure of how to make a round yarn lantern....Plus, there is a bonus ahead...so, continue reading....
Let me first show you a picture of the yarn lantern I made....

Yarn Lantern

The materials used were:

• Yarn- I used wool, but cotton works best
• White PVA glue- Fevicol/ Elmers
• Cornstarch
• Water
• Plastic cup/ bowl (preferably disposable)- to make the mixture
• Candy stick/ skewer- to stir the mixture
• Inflatable ball/ balloon
• Oil - any cooking oil

Materials

Let me walk you through the process.... The quantity of the mixture required depends on the size of the ball/ balloon you are using..... I used a small ball for which I'll tell you the quantity..... You can increase the quantity as per your requirement....

You can use a balloon if you don't have a ball...However, use a good quality thick balloon, as it holds shape better, and so will your lantern.....

First of all prep your surface by laying a lot of newspapers, as this project can get messy...

Also, wear an apron or garbage bag to cover yourself....I learnt it the hard way....

Now, for making the mixture, I used five teaspoons of glue, five teaspoons of water and five heaped teaspoons of cornstarch. I poured each of these ingredients in a disposable glass....Then, I took the help of a skewer stick to stir the mixture well.....The mixture should have the consistency of pancake batter, not too thick and not too runny.....Then I soaked my yarn ball in the glass for 20 mins.......Before soaking, I rolled the yarn in a loose ball, so as to allow the mixture to reach to its center....That way, I made sure that every inch was soaked in the mixture......Meanwhile, I inflated my sons plastic ball and lubricated it by rubbing a few drops of oil on it with my fingers....This was to ensure easy removal of the ball after the lantern dried.

Now, comes the fun part....I used a disposable salad container for the base...you can use any bowl or cup you have on hand.....This is just to rest the ball for drying.....I slowly unravelled the yarn and removing the excess mixture, I started rolling the yarn around the ball.... I am sorry I don't have the pictures while doing the process as my hands were too messy to take any pictures.....I rolled the yarn all over the ball in a criss cross pattern till most of the ball was covered....I rolled the yarn in such a way that the top white circle of the ball was not covered....I needed that space to put the light in....I left the ball on the tray to dry for 24 hours....When it was completely dry, I opened the ball's air lock and deflated it....The ball left the sides easily due to the oil coat I applied to it in the beginning.....I slowly pulled out the ball from the top.....It looked like this....

Ball Lantern

Since I used a small ball I could not fit in a bulb, so I put battery operated string lights instead....

It looked like this when lit.....

Yarn Lantern

Inspired by my success, my little sis also tried it out...She used a bigger size ball...This is how her yarn lantern turned out......

Fancy Yarn Lantern

She pepped it up by using contrast color wool to glue some flowers.... I justloved it....

It looks better than mine!!!!

Since it was of bigger size, she ued a low watt bulb and put it up as a lantern for Diwali.....

This is how it looks lit up......

Ball Lantern

Hope I succeeded in explaining the procedure....Do try it out....its pretty easy....

Now, let me show you the bonus I talked about earlier....Yarn Votive Holders!!!!

I told you about them too in my post Diwali 2014

When I made my lantern, I had some leftover mixture....Instead of throwing it away I decided to do something different....I took a square shaped glass bottle and the water bottle shown in the pic above, and used them to make my votive holders.....

Just like I did for the ball, I oiled the bottle to make the votive holder easier to remove.....

I soaked orange yarn (wool) in the mixture and rolled it in a criss cross pattern on the bottle just like I did for the balloon and left it to dry for 24 hours....For the plastic bottle too, I did the same.....After it dried completely, I slid the square votive holder off the bottle.....But for the plastic bottle, I used a slightly different approach....I cut the plastic bottle with the yarn at the top level of the yarn and left the bottle inside the yarn as it is....Its a good way to upcycle used water bottles.....

This is how they looked.....

Yarn Votive Holders

I used LED votives inside them to avoid the risk of fire...This is how they look when lit....

Yarn Votive Holders

I hope you enjoyed the post...I loved to share the process with you as I had a lot of fun making them....Go ahead and make some, and share the pics with me in the comment box too.....

Thanks for visiting and comment below to let me know you were here...See you soon with more!!!