Our Paper Lantern Creature DIY Kits come with all the pieces you need to make your own whimsical bird, except glue and a brush. This kit is for the ombre-esque bird .
Check out the tutorial below.
Kit Supplies: 4″ paper lantern, 2 pieces of eyebrows, 2 pieces of beak, 2 small wings, 2 medium wings, 2 large wings, 1 balloon light, 2 small eyes, 2 medium eye, 1 bag of light colored tissue feathers, 1 bag of medium colored tissue feathers, 1 bag of dark colored tissue feathers
Additional supplies (not included): ruler (optional: see through ruler), scorer or nail file, binder clips
Assemble the paper lantern by first expanding the lantern.
Insert the wire expander
Then gently pull one of the wire loops over the wire expander little “ears”. Repeat on the other side.
To figure out placement of the first circle, I usually place it (do not add glue at this point) on the lantern so that the top of the circle, lines up to either the 2nd or 3rd spiral and the bottom of the circle comes just before the center, about where the red dotted line is on the picture above.
Once you have the right spot, apply the glue mixture.
You can start with either the darkest or the lightest color. For this tutorial, I decided to do the darkest color, red, first.
You will be working following the spiral going from right to left. Once the first circle is applied, add more glue to the left of the circle then apply the next tissue piece. The circle should be applied so that it overlaps the first circle by about a third.
Continue to apply the circles.
You will need to apply about 4 or 5 layers of the red before you start applying the second color, pink.
Continue applying the pink circles. You need 3 layers.
Once you reach the third bright pink layer, start to apply the light pink circles. When you get to the last layer, be sure to overlap the top spiral. Hang to dry.
Once dry, cut the over lap area into 4 or 5 strips.
Use some ribbon, thread, twine or yarn to attach to loop c. Tie the top of the ribbon and hang the bird to dry. This is the only way to keep the bottom portion of the tissue circles from adhering onto themselves and keep them looking like feathers.
While the body is drying, time to work on the wings. Apply regular strength glue (I prefer tacky glue) to the purple (medium sized) wing as shown in the photo. Of note, I purposely added a lot of glue for this tutorial so the you see the contrast. But generally my policy is to use as little glue as possible. Too much glue makes the whole project messy and is often difficult to clean it up without a mess.
Gently attach it to the blue (largest size) wing. I like lining it up so that the first scallop on the tip of the purple wing, does not lie on the blue wing. See photo above.
Repeat process with the pink (smallest size) wing. Make any adjustments necessary so that everything lines up as desired. Keep some paper towels around to carefully wipe any glue that seeps out. Set aside for a few minutes to dry.
Once the first wing is dry, its time to put together the second wing. To make sure that each wing is set exactly the same way, this is the easiest way to do it. Line up the smallest wings on top of each other. Hold it them together with a binder clip.
Next place the medium wing so that it lines up exactly with th other medium wing. Hold in place with a binder clip. Repeat with the large wing.
Cut off a small piece parchment paper and place it between the set wing and the un-adhered wing pieces. Put glue on the small wing piece as you did for the other wing. Hold in place for a few seconds and then repeat with the medium wing piece. Once all pieces are adhered, remove the binder clips, parchment paper and set aside to dry.
Wings all done and set aside to dry.
For the beak, line up the ruler so that you see the distinct shapes: triangle and rectangle. Score as shown. Since I love to use multi use tools, the nail file is my tool of choice for scoring.
Measure the exact center of the rectangle and place a mark at the bottom of the rectangle.
Line up the ruler so that it runs through the tip of the triangle and the marked point on the bottom of the rectangle. Score it. Repeat the the process with the other beak piece.
Fold fold the beak pieces along the scored lines …
In both directions.
Next cut the rectangle section in half along the scored line, up to the beginning of the triangle.
Repeat for the other pieces
Add glue to one of the rectangle pieces per the photo above.
Place the other side on top of the glue and use a binder clip to hold it in place. Repeat for the other beak side. Set both pieces aside to dry.
Glue the smaller eye piece onto the bigger eye piece.
Repeat on the other side. Set aside to dry.
While the other bird pieces are drying, you can finish off the body. Make 8 to 10 slits into the overlaps as shown above.
Then using a small brush, apply glue to just inside of the top of the lantern. All around.
Then gently press in the overlaps. You may need to add additional glue so that all the overlaps stay glued down.
All done.
For placement of the wings, I use loops A and B as guidance. You want to line the wings up so that the front curve of the wings lines up in line with either loop A or loop B and you want to place the wings on the vertical center of the of the body, that is the round most part of the bird.
Apply glue to the bottom of the front edge of the wings and gently press down. Keep holding it until is is set enough not to move when handles are removed.The first wing positioned and adhered to the body.
Repeat on the other side.
To figure out placement of the eyes, you want to place then just above the vertical center of the body as well as the just off center of loop C. Attach the eyes. Once the eyes have dried, attach the eyebrows. I tend to like the eyebrows a little off center.
They eyes and eyebrows all done.
To attach the beak, put a little bit of glue on one piece of the beak as shown above. Place the second beak part directly on top …
So that the beak looks like the photo above. Allow the beak to dry briefly. Then apply tacky or hot glue to the bottom of the base of the beak.
And quickly adhere it so it that the beak is centered between the eyes horizontally and the topmost point of the beak lines up with the bottommost part of the eyes.
All done! Birdie is ready to play.
