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Why not do something special for Valentine’s day that you can enjoy all year round and make a hand printed lovebird lantern?
To WIN one a lantern kit simply enter at the end of this post
Of course you can use pretty, romance-themed fabric to use with the Dannells’ kit but seeing as it’s Valentine’s how about going the extra mile and printing your own design with lino or a stamp.
You can carve a simple heart shape on a block of rubber and stamp it onto fabric. A similar technique on this lampshade design.
Buy Your Lantern Kit HERE
This lovebird lantern design was created in lino then block printed onto the fabric.
1: First, draw out your design. I drew very simple bird and blossom shapes without too much detail that would be easy to carve out of lino.
2: Trace this drawing onto tracing paper and transfer onto a plain piece of lino. Remember when the lino prints out it will be a mirror image of what’s on the surface so make sure you trace the reverse onto the lino so the true image will transfer onto the fabric. Here’s how to do it… Trace your original drawing in a soft, heavy pencil onto tracing paper, then flip the paper so the pencil side sits on the lino. Stick with masking tape. Use a hard pencil to then go over the drawing and lift up the tracing paper to reveal the image.
3: Now carve out your image on the lino. The inked areas (the ones that will print on the fabric) are raised so you want to carve away any areas you don’t want to appear on the print. To get the effect shown here, you will have to cut away around your motifs. If that looks a bit scary, you can always simple use your lino cutting tools to make a simple outline around the shapes.
If you are new to lino cutting, find out more about how to get started and the equipment you need here.
Buy Your Lantern Kit HERE
4: Now you can print the motif over the fabric. Use a roller to apply ink to your lino. Make sure the ink is evenly distributed over the fabric. Lay plain, ironed, fabric onto a flat surface. Place your lino face down on the surface and apply an even pressure over the lino so it prints onto the fabric. Repeat until the entire fabric is covered in the design. Leave to dry. Once the fabric is dry, give it a good iron.
5: Lay out all our lantern kit components. I like to make the panels first, so lay your fabric face down and place the self adhesive panel on top, to check for size and positioning. Peel back a little of the release paper on the panel, position on to the reverse of the fabric and remove the rest of the release paper so it sticks to the fabric, smoothing out from the middle as you pull. Turn over and smooth out again, removing any creases or bubbles. Snap back the scored edges on the panel and remove. Place a strip of double-sided tape on the edge of the covering. Set aside.
Buy Your Lantern Kit HERE
6: Cover the metal hoops with the double-sided tape. Put the sticky rings on the edge of the PVC panel, not the fabric, and start rolling along the straight edge, joining with the double-sided tape when you get to the end, pressing firmly together. Push the surplus fabric over the rings.
7: Use the kit’s tool to tuck the fabric underneath the rings on the inside of the lantern for a neat finish. Once that’s done you can pop the disc and the light holder inside to hold your LED tea light (don’t use a candle or naked flame).
BRIGHT IDEA!
Win one of 3 sets of lanterns kits!
For your chance to win one of our easy to make lantern kits and try this great project at home simply answer the following question in the comments box below this post. *Deadline to enter: 21st February 2018 @12pm
What kit is used in this post?
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