You might remember my very first dodecahedron star lantern that I posted last Summer. I fell in love with our bold crayon colored lantern, but I still wanted to find the time to make more in the original soft style of oiled watercolor papers. It had been brought to my attention several times that the tutorial I linked to no longer exists in Blogland, and I noticed on my blog statistics that quite a few people have found their way here while Googling “dodecahedron star lantern tutorial.”
I did a quick internet search and realized that most of the other search results linked back to the same tutorial that no longer exists…so I decided to recreate it! Not quite as beautifully explained or photographed as the original, but I couldn’t leave all those Google searchers hanging, could I? 😉
I started by painting two 11″x14″ wet-on-wet watercolor paintings, just some basic color washes since they are going to get cut up into smaller pieces. Once the paint was dry I rubbed the papers with a thick layer of olive oil until it was saturated through to the back side, blotted off the excess and allowed the paintings to dry overnight.
While I was waiting for the paintings to dry, I printed out my Pentagon Template and used my Xacto knife to cut out one of the shapes to use as a stencil.
You will also need to glue the inside flaps at the seam, as well as the inside flaps at the top and bottom of the lantern. If you choose to add a base to your lantern, now would also be the time to add the 11th pentagon to the bottom of the lantern. I like to be able to slip my lantern right over my candle, so I choose to leave both the top and bottom open.
Amanda says
I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I linked to this post today from the Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip. 🙂 You can see it here
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/dodecahedron-star-lantern/
Thanks for the great idea!
If you would like a “featured by” button, you can grab one here!
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/
Jen says
That is so cute! Thanks for sharing.
Following you from Made by you Mondays
Love meeting fellow crafty people.
Cheers!
Jen
http://cariboobutterflycrafts.blogspot.com
Erin says
Amazing – this is going to be a wonderful craft to do with my 4 year old together during our next night that we are home being creative!! 🙂 Thanks for the awesome directions!
Meg says
Wow! These are great. I am going to be making one soon. Thanks.
SJacobs says
This is adorable! I intend to make some! I love the crayon lantern too. Do you use oil on that as well?
MessyMissy says
That’s incredible!! What a beautiful result. This could be a fun lantern for the 4th of July too!! 🙂
mylittlegems says
so cool! love it 🙂
Stacy says
Wow! That is so unique and beautiful!!! Thank you so much for linking this up 🙂
Linda says
This is amazing. thanks for doing a tutorial on the beautiful lantern. Take care, Linda
Michelle@Somedaycrafts says
Wow!!! I CAN’t believe your made that! Incredible! What a great geometry activity. I am featuring this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com. Grab my “Featured” button.
.:gardenmama:. says
absolutely stunning!
thank you for sharing this very clear tutorial!
Alicia says
Holy moly, those are beautiful! Absolutely fabulous. I’m so your latest follower now!
Alicia {ProtoDoom.com}
online tutoring service says
Thanks for the post. I had been looking for something related and found your web site in the process.. I will definitely be back for more.
ruksar says
Wow! That is so unique and beautiful!!! Thank you so much for linking this up
Dimple says
umm what knd of paper should be used for the wet-on-Wet painting?
Heidi says
We used watercolor paints with watercolor paper. 🙂
Rosemary Browne says
Thank you so much; gorgeous and simple!
chitra says
lovely explanation through clear photographs
alwaysspinnin says
Hi, you mentioned that you use watercolor paper. do you know what weight the paper is? AMAZING!
Heidi says
Thank you! We usually use 140 lb watercolor paper. 🙂
Adley says
Thank you! Why do you put oil on the paper?
Heidi says
The oil helps to give a translucent quality to a paper that is otherwise very thick and opaque. It helps allow the light to pass through, and it gives the paper a nice soft sheen. 🙂
Melanie says
Thank you for the tutorial. My friend and I are in the midst of creating these and we left out the step of oiling. Is it necessary? What is the purpose of doing this? Will it catch fire? Does it make them more translucent? Looking forward to your reply….
Heidi says
Hi Melanie, the oiling step is optional, however, it does help the paper become more translucent which is preferable if you’re working with thicker watercolor paper.