Coffee Filter Chinese Lanterns

Happy Halloween!

Look!  A seasonally appropriate post!  Unfortunately, this post doesn't technically fit into the series of coffee-filter flower experiments, since these aren't really flowers. According to Wikipedia, the papery lanterns are actually the plant's fruit.  Regardless, they are charming and feel very 'fall'. 

The lanterns are very easy to make (I think I say this about all of my projects). Cut out four-petaled shapes from coffee-filters (1).  You can experiment with different sizes; I just folded a large coffee filter into fourths and then cut out the rudimentary shape.  Using watercolor paints, color the 'flowers' orange (2).  Allow them to dry.  Pierce a hole in the center of the 'flower' (3).  Next, cut out four 3-3.5 inch sections of thin wire (4).  One inch from the top, wrap the wires together (5).  Wrap this inch in brown floral tape (6).  Insert the taped section through the hole in the 'flower'.

Spread out the four wire sections to line up with the four petals (7). Using masking tape, tape each wire to the middle of each petal (8 & 9).  Trim any excess wire or tape that extends past the end of the petal. Finally, bend the petals downward to form the lantern shape (10).  Attach them in a row to a thick piece of floral wire using more brown floral tape (11).

I hope you enjoy making these and I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!