A long time ago I found a tutorial on how to make a lantern from plastic straws. I even tried it and it worked fine. But I gave the lanterns away without taking any photos ;-(
The instruction is in German with illustrating photos.
Here is a translation:
Material:
- Plastic drinking straws
- Parchment paper
- Iron
- An old wooden tray
- Scissors
- Double-sided tape
- Tealight
That’s what you have to do:
- Lay the parchment paper on your working space, perhaps lay even the old wooden tray underneath.
- Lay the plastic straws neatly on the parchment paper and lay another layer of parchment paper on it.
- Iron on highest setting, but without steam over the parchment paper on the plastic straws. The straws will melt.
- If everything became flat, let the plastic cool down. You can hear that they cool because there is a cracking noise.
- Carefully release the straws from the parchment paper.
- Cut the ‘mat’ with the scissors in the form you want.
- Fix the ends with the tape and put a tealight into.
What I learned when testing it:
- Best iron in an well ventilated area, because there are (toxic?) vapours.
- The ironed straws are very, very hot, so make sure to let them cool down thoroughly.
- Never iron plastic directly, but put always some parchment paper between iron and plastic to protect the iron.
- Make the lantern big enough, so that it can’t inflame from being to near the flame of the tealight.
Links:
Plastic Straw Lantern (German)
votive
