i go with my little lantern

i have so enjoyed all the beautiful and inspiring posts about martinmas these past few days! it is such a lovely little festival. this was my third and we have made a different style lantern every year. this year we did the paper mache balloon ones. they turned out lovely!jasper chose to carry a beeswax one that we made last year. it is such a joy to witness the children's anticipation of the event. returning to school at night time is a thrill itself. carrying their own little flames inside lanterns they made themselves out into the dark night brings unparalleled joy! a short and sweet little walk, our lanterns lighting the way, our voices filling the night air. if you do not have a group to do this with, you can make a lantern and go for a walk with your own children around your neighborhood. it is such a delightful experience for young and old and a most meaningful way to signify the carrying of our lights in to the darkness of winter.
cody's turnip lantern shining brightly!

thank you to all of you that have shared your own lanterns and walks! it is refreshing to both celebrate common ground and to explore new traditions.

the costumes

given the speed that my life is running at currently, i am not going to attempt a thorough halloween post. suffice it to say that there were a lot of festivities over four days! a halloween celebration at my school thursday, one at sienna's on friday, a huge festival at her school saturday, followed by our annual walk in the dog parade (no, we don't own a dog but this is our fifth year walking in a halloween parade with a slew of them dressed in outrageous costumes!). halloween morning we went to a birthday party and a wee bit of trick or treating to our neighbors houses that night.
at home we made an altar for those that have passed back over the rainbow bridge and decorated sugar skulls.
sienna saw a picture of a butterfly costume in an old volume of childcraft (make and do) ages ago and knew that was exactly what she wanted. she did insist her body be black (like a real butterfly's) not blue like the one pictured but wanted the wings the same.
matt and i made these wings together the night before. (yes, i said she picked her costume ages ago and we saved making the key element until the night before. that's just where i'm at right now!) i wish i had done the middle felt piece differently. it was a structural element and i modeled it after the pair of wings we deconstructed to salvage the frame. matt pointed out that we should have made it part of the design by mimicking the lines we painted. good idea.jasper was a crow.i took elements from a couple of different martha stewart costumes and came up with this. the body is a leotard with feather boas safety pinned to it. he is obsessed with black so he was pretty happy. he insisted that none of the ticklish feathers touch his skin though. daddy was his scarecrow when we went out halloween night.
this was my next favorite costume spotting. ;)
how cool are these burlap scarecrows? i love them!!

***a big thank you for all the comments on the giveaway post! wowsers. i had no idea my little fairy would generate such excitement. ;) you can still enter once a day until tomorrow night.***

beeswax lantern tutorial

caution: melted wax is extremely hot! please take all necessary precautions when working with hot wax. hot wax is flammable and can ignite. please do use a thermometer to gauge the temp of your wax as the balloons will pop if your wax is too hot!

these lanterns are just so stunning and they really are easy to make and absolutely magical to create! i want to share this with all of you so that you can make them, too!

i will start by telling you a little story. i recommend that you use a thermometer for your wax. however, i do not. last tuesday we made these in our class. on wednesday, i got out all the supplies and set up our station again so that those students who weren't present the day before could make one and so that i could make some for siblings attending the lantern walk.

i did not plug the crock pot in far enough in advance and the wax never did melt during our free play/ handwork time! so, i left the crock pot turned on (in a safe location) and went about our morning thinking that i would bring the student over when we had a spare moment. well, that moment did not come until a couple of hours later.

as ms joy was telling the story to the class, i checked on the wax. i dipped a leaf in. it fizzed and the leaf curled up. hmmm.....that's never happened before. i turned the crock pot off. it was a good 15 mins or so before story was over and the child and i filled up her balloon with water. i had her stand back as i did the first dip, just in case. sure enough, that wax was too hot to stick a balloon in! fortunately, it did not send wax flying, but the balloon popped and wax boiled over the sides of the pot!

i was afraid my wax would be ruined! however, i let it cool for another 20 mins and then proceeded to make lanterns just fine. i have not had this happen any other time. it is because i had it turned on for too long and the wax just got too hot. so, a thermometer can help you avoid this fate. personally, i use the leaf test. normally when i dip a leaf, there is certainly no fizz and it does not curl up. when i pull it out of the wax it takes only a few seconds to harden. you could also do this project with the double boiler method and perhaps that would eliminate this potential issue.

my crock pot after the wax boiled over!

on to the tutorial! some things to have on hand:

* a crock pot designated for beeswax (thrift store, garage sale, or freecycle are great options)
* balloons (all balloons are not created equal. blow your up and see if it gives you a nice round shape. otherwise your lantern is going to be a bit lopsided)
* water faucet
* lots and lots of beeswax (i suggest you find a beekeeper to buy from, it is much more affordable that way. my friend kelly scores ours for $3 a pound!! that is compared to the $8.49 the health food store and craft stores want!)
* pressed leaves and flowers
* hot glue gun
* a flat plate- to sit your lantern on while you are working
* sharp needle or scissors for popping the balloon
* raffia, if making lanterns


melt a pound or two of beeswax in your crock pot. it is best to use a taller pot so that you have some depth to your hot wax for dipping the balloon. it takes close to an hour in my crock pot to fully melt the wax.

blow your balloon up with air, then let it out. this makes it easier to fill it with water.
next, attach your balloon to the end of your faucet and turn on the water. you want to fill the balloon until it has a nice round shape and is the size of the lantern you wish to make.

holding the balloon by the knot, dip it into the hot wax about 3/4 of the way up the balloon. pull it out and hold it in the air for about 20-30 seconds while the wax hardens. dip it back in up to the same line you made before. do this 5 times letting it harden in between each dip.
after you have dipped it about 5 times, sit it on a plate. using both of your hands around the balloon, flatten the bottom of the lantern on the plate by pushing down and sort of wiggling it side to side. if you get down at eye level you can really watch to make sure that you are getting both the top and the bottom of the lantern pretty even.
dip the wax covered balloon about 5 more times, letting it harden in between each coat. flatten the bottom on the plate again. at this point your lantern should be pretty solid and you will want to add any decorations. if it is not to your desired thickness, continue dipping a few more times.

i used pressed leaves and flowers to decorate. it is helpful to attach them with the hot glue gun. dip the lantern in the wax once again. when you bring it out, use your finger to press down any edges of the leaves that might be sticking out. dip one last time! (you do not want to dip too many times after you have attached the leaves or they will get covered).
now for the excitement...place your lantern in the sink and using your needle or scissors, pop the balloon! the balloon will pull away from the sides and you can pour the water out. at this point, i like to work the top edge of the lantern, folding over any ragged edges to give it a nice clean look (that did not happen with all of the lanterns pictured!).

if you wish to hang your lantern or to have a carrying handle, use a pencil and push through the wax about a 1/2 inch down on each side. we used raffia for our handles. tie a knot on the inside of the lantern, thread it through to the outside of the lantern and pull it over to the other side, threading it back inside the lantern and tie another knot.
we did these in class with our 3-6 year olds. obviously, much assistance is needed with this age group, but i am so glad that we made them a part of it! they were absolutely captivated by the dipping and the hardening of the wax. most of them would hold onto the balloon with us as we dipped. they loved to sit it on the plate and wrap their hands around the warm wax. the smell is absolutely divine! they got to choose their leaves (which they had collected with their families and in class). though most of them did not want to pop the balloon themselves, they LOVED watching it pop and the balloon retract inside!
we also did these with our handwork group last month. it makes for a lovely group project. several ladies worked out of the same pot, taking turns dipping and marveling at the magic happening before our eyes.

at home, we are making these for christmas gifts. the lantern pictured in the top photo does not have holes or a handle. it sits on our table and serves as our meal candle.
i hope this tute is easy to follow! do let me know if you have any additional questions. i hope you enjoy making these as much as we did!

edited to add:

* carey suggests having a bowl of cold water at the ready and going back and forth between the hot wax and the cold water, as when making candles.

* devana had a brilliant suggestion! for finishing the top and bottom- get an old pan, heat it up and just touch the bottom of the lantern on the pan for one second to flatten the bottom so it sits nice. do the same
thing with the lip on the warm flat frying pan. can't wait to try this with my next batch!

* devana also says the temp of the wax should stay between 150-160 and that the water in the balloon should be cold.

thanks gals!

edited: dec 12 *******new lantern*******

i made another lantern recently. i LOVE the way this one turned out. this time i dipped the balloon in the beeswax 20 times before adding the leaves. i used thin leaves (japenese maple) that had been pressed. i held the lantern very close to the crockpot and dipped the leaves one at a time in to the wax. as soon as the leaf came out of the wax, i applied it to the surface of the lantern and carefully smoothed out any tips that were protruding. i will admit that i torched most of my fingerprints off during my waitress days carrying hot plates. so, i do actually touch the wax at this point. this step must be done very quickly before the wax begins to harden.

i did each leaf this way and then dipped the lantern one last time, being careful not to hold it in the wax for long so as not to either melt the wax that was holding the leaves on or to make the layer of the wax on the leaves too thick.

also, this time i did not use the plate at all. i held my lantern during all 21 dips and then afterward used the warm pan on the stove to flatten the bottom and the lip. such a nice finish!

the final product is lovely. before it went on it's way to it's new (still secret) home, it sat on my desk. i fondled it often. it is so smooth and warm and the smell is intoxicating!

have you made any lanterns? thinking of trying? let me know if you do! i would love to see them. have fun!!