Spring Lanterns

Press flowers and some small leaves –if you don’t have a proper flower press, you can do what we did and carefully place the flowers between two pieces of paper, put between the pages of a thick book and place something heavy on top for a couple of weeks.

We bought seasonal flowers from an honesty box, as there weren’t many in bloom, or you can use blooms from your garden. Flowers with a single layer of petals work the best when pressing. Please don’t pick wildflowers, as they are an important nectar source at this time of year.

Make a glue mixture with equal parts water and glue. Then gather the following materials, and lay down some newspaper to make cleaning up easier:

• Small rectangles of tissue paper

Your glue mixture

Water and a sponge paintbrush

Pressed flowers and leaves

An inflated balloon placed on the opening of a jar (you can secure it with masking tape to stop it rolling away) – inflate it according to how big you want your lantern to be, we only inflated ours about halfway.

3

For the first layer, use plain water (so that the popped balloon will peel off more easily later). Lay the squares onto the balloon and dab in place using the paintbrush, starting at the top.

For your second and third tissue paper layers use the glue mixture to secure them. Try to take the time to flatten the tissue paper as you go using your brush. You can start to add flowers after you have your second complete layer of tissue paper on, or wait until the third and brush glue over the top to secure them.

Let your lantern dry (overnight). All of the glue mixture will dry clear.

Once your lantern is dried, draw a line to help you tidy up the top later. Then you can pop the balloon, which should shrivel up and fall out.

Trim the excess tissue paper at the bottom of the lantern (using your line), to give you an even top, and carefully dent the bottom of the lantern, so it will sit on whatever surface you choose.

Finally, use electric tea lights to illuminate your creations and add a warm glow to your home.