Recycled Fall/Autumn Tissue Paper Lantern

With Fall almost here, one of our annual traditions is to make Fall/Autumn lanterns. This idea was introduced to us at our local Waldorf school, and the idea of the lit lantern is to carry light and help guide us into the darkness of winter. K and I love working on these together. The process for this recycled Fall/Autumn tissue paper lantern is the exact same as our Summer lanterns, except we use colours more suited to the fall season, and like to add different designs, such as a tree. For specific pictures detailing the process, please check out the summer lantern post.

Recycled Fall/Autumn Tissue Paper Lantern

Materials

Glass jar – applesauce and pickle jars work well
Tissue paper – colours of your choice; we used red, yellow, orange and cream/white to represent the changing leaves and Autumnal colours, but feel free to use whichever colours you want or have on hand
Scissors
Glue paste
Paint brush – to put the glue on
Candle – tea lights work well

Process

Start by removing the label from your glass jar.
Cut up the tissue paper into small pieces. You can cut them into whatever shapes or pieces you want. I stuck with simple squares and rectangles in a few different sizes. You can see an example here.
Mix up your glue paste. I mixed Elmer’s glue with water – about 1 part glue to 2 parts water – but you can use less water to make it even thicker. You can also find many DIY glue and paste recipes glue and paste recipes.
Use the paintbrush to brush the glue paste onto the glass jar. Go section by section, sticking the tissue paper to the jar as you go. Feel free to add more glue in any places the tissue doesn’t seem to be sticking as well. Go all around until the entire jar is covered as much as you would like. This is where you can really have fun with it! I like mixing all the coloured pieces together and covering every open space. You can also do different variations, such as a neat fade up the jar.
Let it dry so it’s no longer sticky when you touch it. Go over the jar with a bit of the glue paste in any spots where the tissue paper is not completely stuck or is coming up at all. Let it completely dry.
At this point, you can add a design if you desire (we cut out brown pieces to create a tree) and glue it on with the paste. If you’re leaving it as is, you’re ready to put in your candle and use the lantern.
Add the tea light or small candle in the bottom of the lantern and enjoy all season long!

“I will give you a spark of my last Autumn rays, once you have made a little house for it, for this spark must be guarded well. It will light the way for you to tend the Light Within throughout the time of dark and cold.”