Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Mason Jar Lantern Tutorial

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This super simple mason jar lantern was made for my daughters birthday party.  There will be more on the party later, but for now, I wanted to show you how to make these adorable lanterns!  They are actually really simple and it took Cyan and I about a half hour to make 6 of them. 

What you need:

  • Metal Awl
  • Metal wire (I just used thick craft wire)
  • hot glue gun (with glue)
  • wire cutters
  • Wide mouth mason jars (I used pints, but any wide mouth jar will do.)
  • Wide mouth mason jar rings
  • rice (for candle stabilizer)
  • burlap fabric
  • ribbon
  • Extra large tea lights

How to:

1. First I punched two holes in the mason jar ring with the metal awl.

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2. You don’t need to use a hammer for this bit…. just the pressure of your hand works just fine.  I punched one through one side and then eyeballed the other side and punched it through as close to directly across as I could.

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3. Then I measured out 10.5 inches of craft wire and cut that with my wire cutters. 

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4. I bent the very ends of the wire and stuck that through the holes in the jar ring.  Then I put a dab of hot glue on the inside of the ring and pressed the wire into it until it was hard.

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5. Then I screwed the ring back onto the jar.  That was it!

To decorate:

I measured out a piece of burlap fabric 2.5 inches by 10.5 inches.  I cut it so that it was going with the grain of the fabric.  I pulled a few of the threads out to make a frilled edge on the top and bottom and wrapped the burlap around the jar, securing with a touch of hot glue (which will come right off the jar so the only sacrifice for this craft is the rings).

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I tied a piece of pretty ribbon around the outside, filled the jar with 1/2 cup of rice, added a extra large tea light and was done!

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Happy Crafting!

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3 comments

Tracey said...

EAsy and cute.. my kind of craft!!!

Luisa said...

Very cute!

c.w.frosting said...

Pretty & simple! The ribbon reminds me of swiss dot fabric.

-caroline @ c.w.frosting

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