All Stars

Hello to readers of our blog old and new! I am so glad to be blogging again. I’ve been working on a diverse collection of projects lately and am looking forward to documenting them here. It is a goal of mine to blog more faithfully this year; we’ll see how that goes….

Katie mentioned the paper star lanterns a few posts ago and I have made several. I traced a dinner plate for the circles you start with, and then painted them with watercolors. I followed the directions for folding and moments later…tada!

I recently (re) discovered the awesome gilding paste Rub n Buff, and was inspired to apply it to the backside of one of the watercolor-ed paper circles before folding it. Of course it is way less translucent, but I like the effect, very warm:

I also tried folding a lantern out of vellum. The watercolor paper is much nicer to work with, but the translucence of the vellum is appealing: Our friend Michelle made sets of rainbow lanterns for Christmas gifts. I am not one to turn down a rainbow inspired project…A couple tips if you try this, (and you really should, you know. It is easy and will help brighten a dreary winter day…) I’d recommend using inexpensive watercolor paper. You definitely don’t want to waste your block of Aquarelle Arches on this-it is too heavy. I used a lightweight (100 lb) cold-pressed Arches. This is not a costly project as it is, but I want to try this with plain old card stock next, for an even cheaper option. Also, as for applying the oil, I just rubbed it in with a paper towel, but Michelle pointed out laying it on really thick, and letting it soak in overnight allows the paper to become much more translucent. Happy Lantern Making!