Gelli Arts® Gel Printed Lantern

Hi there! It’s Marsha here today with a touch
of ‘hygge’ to brighten up a corner of your home! This star lantern is a fun
craft project that is easy to make and perfectly suitable for kids too.

Step 1:

Choose two or three of your favourite paint
colours and start printing. You need at least two 8.5” x 11” Gelli prints to
create 11 pentagon shapes that are about 3.5” x 3.5” in size.

Try not to cover the entire paper with paint.
Leave some white spots for the light to shine through later on.

You can achieve this by pulling ghost prints
or for instance by removing paint from the plate before pulling a print:

Apply acrylic paint to the Gelli Arts® Gel
Printing Plate. Roll it out on the plate with a brayer. Place a stencil on top
of the paint and then a sheet of (parchment) paper. Use the thin paper to
remove the paint from the open parts of the stencil. Remove the stencil and
pull a print with your paper.

You don’t have to cover your paper in one go
either. Pull partial prints and layer them if you like.

Step 2

Create a pentagon template to help you cut
the paper into identical pentagon shapes.

Print an image of a regular pentagon. Make
sure you print it at a size of about 3.5” x 3.5”. Resize it if you want a
smaller or a more substantial lantern.

Trace the pentagon image onto a scrap of
chipboard. Use a craft knife and a metal ruler to cut along the lines of the
pentagon on the chipboard.

Step 3

Use the template as a guide to cut 11
identical pentagons.

Step 4

Mark the middle of each side of each pentagon
with a pencil.

Step 5:

Score a line from one pencil mark to the next
one and repeat for each of the pencil marks.

Step 6:

Fold the score lines.

Step 7:

Use a brush to apply vegetable oil to the
back of the Gelli printed pentagons.

The paper will absorb the oil, and this will
give the prints a translucent quality. Blot any excess oil with a paper towel
and leave the pentagons to dry, preferably overnight.

Step 8:

Start with the bottom pentagon of your star
lantern. Place it printed side down. Apply glue to one of the flaps on the
printed side.

Take another pentagon and apply glue to the
blank side of one of the flaps. Adhere the two pentagons together.

Move on to the next side of the bottom
pentagon and repeat until you’ve attached a pentagon to all five sides.

Step 9:

For the second row adhere one new pentagon to
each previously attached pentagon, but make sure to glue each new pentagon to
the exact same side of each previous pentagon. Like this: