How-to: Lantern-style Votive Luminaries

Take it easy this Labor Day and whip up a set of these simple lantern-style luminaries. I love these for every season of the year – all you have to do is swap out the color of the paper used to make them fit right in on a Halloween, Christmas, or any tablescape. If you craft on a regular basis, you might even have the needed supplies on hand already too!

Supplies

votive candles that come in glass holders
matte Mod Podge
sponge brush
tissue paper
pre-filled glass votive candles
x-acto knife
pencil
scissors
measuring tape
ruler
waxed paper
cardboard or foam core to protect your work surface

Directions

Measure the wider end of your votive and then measure its height using a tape measure. With those numbers, draw a rectangle on your tissue paper for each votive, and cut them out.

Set your tissue paper pieces on some cardboard or foam core and slice lines down the length of each rectangle without cutting through any edge of the tissue paper. Lay your sliced rectangles on waxed paper and carefully paint a layer of Mod Podge over them.

Let dry for 5 minutes. Very carefully peel them from the waxed paper. Set each aside on a new, dry sheet of waxed paper to dry all the way.

Why hassle with delicate tissue paper on this project?
Tissue paper lets more light through! Yes, the slits in the paper will let light through, but the tissue paper will let even more light shine. You can swap regular paper for the tissue paper if you’d like, which would let you skip the waxed paper/Mod Podge layer/careful peel steps. 

When the tissue paper has dried completely, cut along the slits with an x-acto knife to reopen them and carefully pull each slit apart.

Paint approximately a centimeter of Mod Podge onto the top edge of your votive. You want to start with the top edge here because most votives that come in a container are wider at the top than bottom.

Position your tissue paper about half a centimeter from the edge of the top of your votive. Place the tissue paper all the way around the votive, and when you come back around, there will be a little bit of overlap. Add a dot of Mod Podge at the point of overlap to secure. Next, paint some Mod Podge over the tissue paper along the top end of the votive.

Just like at the top of your votive, paint a ring of Mod Podge about a centimeter wide along the bottom edge of the votive. Slide the bottom of your tissue paper to about half a centimeter from the votive’s base. Again, add a dot of Mod Podge where the tissue paper overlaps to secure it, and paint a layer of Mod Podge over the bottom end of the tissue paper to finish.

^Please pardon my left hand being in the strangest physical configuration possible here.^

Here’s what the finished luminaries look like from the top…

Gluing the paper on slightly in from the top and bottom edge of the votives makes the middle of the paper slits flare out for a cute lantern effect. Festive, right?

Like this project? I originally wrote it for Mod Podge Rocks, a craft blog totally worth reading.