Mackintosh Lantern

Hi there and welcome to my blog  :)  Today's post is one of my tv samples from the recent Chocolate Baroque Mackintosh shows.  It is my turn to feature three projects on the DT blog this month  http://chocolatebaroque.blogspot.co.uk  so I chose this as the first.  I have used stamps from the Mackintosh Windows set; alcohol pens, silver gilding wax, silver embossing powder;  an embossing folder from my stash, black card, parchment paper, gems from my stash.

  This pretty lantern was made entirely from scratch and without a template, so there are no measurements.  It does mean however that you can adapt this design to fit any stamps you have in your stash.  I took an A4 piece of  parchment paper,  stamped each of the window images and embossed them in silver.  I then turned the parchment over and coloured the images on the back with alcohol pens.  This gives the coloured areas  a more muted look.   I cut the images out, leaving a large border around each one creating four panels.

  

I then took a piece of A4 black card and embossed it in a folder.  I added gilding wax to bring out the pattern.

I turned the card over and score it three times to create four equal panels. I then measured the width of one of the panels, and used that measurement (measuring from one of the long edges) to score along the length of the card across all the panels.  I made a cut on each panel from the same edge along the first score lines up to the long score line.  This  makes four small panels to fold up as the base of the lantern.  I trimmed one side of each base panel with a diagonal cut to enable each panel to sit well on top of each other.   I then placed a parchment panel onto each of the card panels and marked four spots on the card, just inside the edges of the parchment, leaving enough of the parchment to attach the panels to the inside of the card.  Using a craft knife I cut between the marks to create an aperture in each of the four panels.  

I cut apertures in each of the card panels and used red liner tape to attach the parchment panels, still working on the back of the black card.  I used the liner tape to assemble the lantern. Using another piece of black card I cut a square slightly larger than the base of the lantern.  I marked the size of the lantern on the card then scored along each side, leaving a border.  I cut a wedge out of each corner from one edge to where the score lines cross, leaving a small flap.  I then folded the border into the centre of the square, creating a little platform and attached all the flaps inside it.  I placed the platform inside the lantern at the bottom and put a battery tea light on it.  

These stamps are beautiful and were perfect for the window panels of this project.  I think this would make a lovely piece of home decor, or a lovely present for someone special.  The design can be adapted to suit any stamps as long as you use four images that will fit the panels.  
Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope that you've enjoyed this post and that you will pop by again soon  :)