How to Make a Japanese Paper Lantern

Gather your materials. The most important thing to buy is bendable metal wire. This can usually be found at arts and crafts stores, as well as hardware stores. Instead of forming your own metal structure, you can also buy pre-made metal wire structures which can save you time. You will also need to buy:^[1]

• Tissue paper (different colors)
• Super glue or hot glue
• Scissors
• Hole-punch
• String
• Wire cutters
• Acrylic or watercolor paint (optional)

Find a mold for your lantern. Unless you are exceptionally skilled at making wire forms, you’ll need a guide. If you want a rounded lantern, find an appropriately sized ball, bowl, vase, tin can, etc. to wrap the wire around. If you want a polygonal lantern, either find a suitable object to wrap the wire around or make a unique mold out of scrap materials.^[2]

Wrap the wire around the mold. Start by wrapping the wire once around the bottom end of your form. Continue wrapping around your frame in a spiral until you get to the top. Since the amount of wire you need will depend on the size of the lantern and tightness of the spirals, it may be a good idea to use wire directly off the spool instead of cutting it in advance.^[3]

• Leave an opening at both the top and bottom of your wire frame. A totally enclosed lantern will trap heat and become a fire hazard.
• Try to keep your wire wraps about 1/2 inch apart from one another.
• Be sure to leave a length of free wire at either end of your mold.

Remove the wire frame from the mold. Be prepared to resize and reshape the frame when you’re done, as it may spring open slightly after removal. Depending on the shape, you may need to pull your wire frame completely open in order to retrieve the mold. Do this gently so that you can reshape it easily when you’re done.^[4]

Secure each opening of your frame with wire. Where the top- and bottom-most spirals end (and become extra wire), attach the extra wire to the nearest spiral in the frame to preserve the shape of the opening. You can do this by either wrapping the wire or with a soldering iron.^[5]

• This should only use a bit of your extra wire. Make sure you have some left for additional structuring.
• For more information on soldering, visit: How to Solder Wire Sculptures

Form a base for your lantern. Be sure to choose the opening that will have the lamp cord (if hanging) or lamp base (if upright) sticking through it. Your exact design will depend on the structure of the lamp you put the lantern on.^[6]

• If you plan to hang your lantern, run the extra wire at the top of the frame straight across the top opening, looping it once in the middle before wrapping or soldering it to the other side. When the lantern is ready to hang, you will run the lamp cord through this loop, tying a knot underneath to hold the lantern in place.
• If your lantern will sit atop a lamp, run the extra wire at the bottom of the frame straight across the bottom opening, looping it once in the middle before wrapping or soldering it to the other side. Be sure the loop is large enough to accommodate the structure that will poke up through the bottom of the lantern.
• Depending on the lamp, you may also need to do make structural adjustments to the opposite opening of the lantern.

Cut paper panels. With a polygonal frame, this will be relatively simple because your paper will be roughly rectangular. With a round frame, you'll have to experiment with small strips or almond-shaped panels of paper. When it comes to round frames, the smaller the pieces of paper, the smoother the final look will be. As you cut each piece, lay them gently against your wire structure to see how the paper fits against it.^[7]

• Decide how many panels you need. For a square or rectangular frame, you can either create a separate panel for each side or wrap the entire sides with one sheet.
• Cut the panels a little larger than they need to be so they can overlap. Don't worry if you make a mistake and miss a spot. You can always come back and cut a new piece of paper to cover the empty spot.

Glue the first panel to the wire frame. It is best to use either hot glue or super glue, as regular school/table glue will not hold the paper to the wire. Wrap the top edge of the paper around the top opening in the wire frame and glue the paper where it overlaps itself. Stretch the paper taut, pulling it down over the wire spirals to the bottom of the frame, where you will again wrap it around the opening and glue it.^[8]

• Once you are done, let the structure have a few minutes to dry completely.

Glue the remaining panels. From here on, you will be able to glue at least one edge of each panel to the neighboring panel. Remember to wait until each panel is dry before adding another. If you realize you do not have enough paper strips to cover the entire structure, go back and cut some more. There should be no remaining space between strips when you are done.^[9]

Decorate your lantern (optional). Lanterns often have characters or designs painted onto the sides. You may also want to paint your paper a solid color, or perhaps stripes. You may even want to add a traditional Japanese design, such as flowers, nature, or native Japanese animals.^[10]

• For more information on how to watercolor paint, visit: How to Paint With Watercolors.
• For more information on how to paint with acrylics, visit: How to Acrylic Paint.

Finish off your lantern. This step is only for those hanging their lanterns. Use a hole-punch to punch a hole into the paper of your lantern. You will want two holes at the top of your structure, one directly across from the other. Cut a piece of string that is at least 12 inches long (length will vary depending on how and where you will hang the lantern). Feed the string from the outside in, into each hole. Tie a knot on each end of the string to hold the lantern as it hangs.^[11]