Light Your Way With This Easy Lantern

I thought of this project one day while I was in the craft aisle of the Dollar store. I picked up 4 wooden frames and got straight to work.

1. I took the 4 frames apart. Kept the glass aside but used only the wooden frame. I kept the hard cardboard backing for another project.

2. Using white paint I coated each frame . I needed a second coat so I waited for that to dry.

3. After each frame was dry I used No More Nails to glue each side to another into the shape of a box.

I let the glue dry on the four frames and got to work on the base and the top part of the lantern. When dry I added the 4 pieces of glass back into the frames.

1. Using rough pine I cut 4 pieces of wood. 9 1/2" square, 9" square, 6" square and 3" square.

The largest square was for the base of the lantern, second largest was for the top lid and the two smallest were for the top of the handle.

After all pieces were cut I made sure to do a quick sand and wipe clean.

1. I painted the 4 pieces the same color as the frames..which is white.

When all pieces are dry...

2. Take the largest piece. This will be the base of the lantern. Line up your lantern to be in the middle of the base and glue down with No More Nails. I placed a heavy book on this to set and let dry.

In the mean time

3. I took the second largest piece and added the next size down. I then added glue to this piece as well and let it dry.

4. I took the last and smallest piece. I had bought a cheap copper fitting at the reuse store for this lantern. I sized up the fitting and put it into the centre of the wood.

I glued the copper fitting onto the top of the wood. I let dry for 24 hrs.

1. Using a large piece of rope I slipped through the copper fitting and made a knot. This gave the lantern a bit of a rustic look.