Moroccan Lantern

I've had great fun this Bank Holiday actually doing a bit of crafting and finishing a Moroccan lantern I started on a workshop with Helen Chilton at The Craft Barn in March. If you love messy, mixed media but practical projects the monthly Kit and Kaboodle class is fantastic.

The base is a Tando Creative kit. Helen had us painting it with metallic paints and distressing it to make it look worn and rusted. I won't give away her secrets but the faux rust was really fun to do. We embossed acetate and coloured it with alcohol inks to create the 'glass' panels. The hinges were cut with the WRMK tabs punchboard. Of course I had to buy one!

Most people on the day chose to box in the top of the lantern but I already had other ideas...and so a month later I've had time to finish it off.

Firstly it all had to be assembled. Then I painted a few wooden embellishments to add some additional decoration to the sides.

Then time to decorate some bottles to fit into the recesses on the top. I used alcohol inks on miniature glass bottles and some old medicine bottles. To create more intense colours I used one colour on the inside of the bottles and two colours on the outside, plus some metallic mixative. I also dripped the copper mixative down the sides of the bottles,

I painted ribbbon to go around the top of the larger bottles, added painted embellishments and finished the tops with enamel accents.

 

I altered little silver charms with the alcohol ink and tied them on with wire and tiny labels were tied with string.

 

I had some left over paper clay flowers and butterflies from another project, so after a lick of paint I added a few of those, along with a few metallic gems.

I really love the irridescence of the alcohol inks on glass. 

 

It looks fantastic with a battery lit candle in it if I do say so myself. It is only made of cardboard so you really must not use a real candle!
 

  

 

Just have to find it a permanent home now. My husband has already asked where it's going!!!!

Materials used:

Tando Creative Moroccan lantern kit

acetate

Ranger alcohol inks

Tim Holtz grunge paper

DecoArt dazzling metallic acrylic paint

DecoArt fluid acrylics

black gesso

Ranger enamel accents

wooden, metallic, glass and gem embellishments

lace ribbon, string, wire