DIY Candle Lantern Ideas–In case you want to celebrate Aviandria style.

In Aviandria, as in many cultures, they have a winter holiday revolving around the darkest day of the year. I wrote an entire post on it a couple years ago, so I won’t go into details now, but you can read more about it here. Part of that celebration includes making lanterns they can use to help bring light to the darkness. I thought it would be fun this year to make a few myself so I can give you some ideas, in case you ever want to try celebrating an Aviandrian holiday. It probably won’t be a full tutorial, but I can at least say what I used and how I did it.

I used a couple of Mason jars that either wouldn’t stay sealed, or had a tiny crack, and a small pickle jar. You could use just about any glass thing that’s similar. I’ve seen things at the dollar store that would work great. 

Stained Glass Bottle

Sorry about the fuzzy picture. I’m obviously not a professional photographer. This one didn’t turn out quite as amazing as I pictured, but it’s still pretty cool. I tried several different things to get thet stained glass window effect. To make the design, I just used metallic black puff paint. That was the easy part. Figuring out the colors was tricky. I started with the paint that is made for those little plastic suncatchers. It worked the effect might have looked really cool with the light shining through it onto a wall. The biggest problem with it was it is very runny, and it tended to gather to one side of the section, or even run out of it and create drips in others. The other thing I found that worked okay was mixing a little mod podge and acrilic paint. It didn’t drip and run nearly as much, but it wasn’t as bright and clear either. That isn’t necessarily bad, since many stained glass windows have a more milky look to them. So, my lantern is a nice combination of the two different kinds of paint. 

Colored Tissue Paper Bottle

(Very original name, I know.)

This one was fairly easy. One layer of Mod Podge, a layer of torn up tissue paper, and another layer of Mod Podge. Ta da! Done. I used some craft wire to twist up and make a handle of sorts. The handle is not perfect, but works. (Just so you know, the handle is for decoration only. It gets kind of hot if you try to hold it with a lit candle.) 

Sparkly Silhouette Bottle

This last one is my personal favorite. It reminds me of a candle holder my mom had when I was little that I absolutely loved. I used black paper as a silhouette type feel, but the one my mom had had little hearts she had cut from a paper napkin. You could easy use something from a Christmas napkin and it would be really cute. This one was fairly easy too. I just used Mod Podge to stick on the star, then when that was dry I covered the entire inside with Mod Podge then put a bunch of iridescent glitter in and shook it around. After I dumped the excess glitter out I let it dry then I painted over it with another layer of Mod Podge. I did a handle out of floral wire from the dollar store and it turned out better. 

I used candles that were about two inches tall to light them. I wasn’t sure a little tea light would be quite enough. I also used the dry spaghetti noodle hack to light the candles. It actually worked, though it did smell a little nasty for a minute. Ifou want to move it while the candle is lit (which is probably not recommended anyhow), hold them at the bottom. The top gets hot. And as always when dealing with fire, be ultra careful.  You can avoid the heat issues, the fire hazard issues, and the smelly spaghetti noodle issues by just using those fake battery powered candles if you so desire. They aren’t perfectly Aviandrian, but neither are Mason jars and iridescent glitter. Mostly, have fun, stay safe, and don’t burn the house down. May your light burn long and bright.

What are some things you like to make for the holidays?