Make a Pop-Up Lantern

Candles are a natural centerpiece for a tabletop. Why not add another dimension by covering your candle with this beautiful homemade shade? A piece of translucent vellum paper softens that candlelight and makes for .

Use a lightweight card stock that folds well. Make sure the grain is running parallel to the folds. The paper can be opaque or translucent, since the light will shire through the pop-ups regardless of the transparency.

What You Need:

• Lightweight card stock, 20 1/4 x 6 inches (grain should be in the 6-inch direction)
• Ruler
• Card stock, 1 1/4 x 6 inches
• Craft knife or scissors
• Cutting mat
• Bone folder
• White glue or 1/4-inch double-sided tape
• Heavy vellum, 8 5/8 x 5 1/4 inches
• Glass votive candle holder
• Tea light or votive candle

What to Do:

Folding the accordion

1. Lay the lightweight card stock on the work surface and use the ruler to place a mark 1/4 inch in from one of the short ends. Make the first fold up to that mark. This extra 1/4 inch will become the seam.
2. Accordion fold the paper until the pleats are 1 1/4 inches, starting at one end and making the first fold so that it meets the fold of the 1/4 inch seam.

Making a cutting template and cutting the pop-ups

1. Create a cutting template with a small piece of card stock using the diagram as a guide. Use a craft knife or scissors to remove the tabs.
2. Working on a cutting mat, start at the side opposite the 1/4-inch fold. Unfold the first pleat of the accordion-folded paper and lay it on the work surface. Place the template on that first pane with the edge of cit notches at the fold. Carefully draw and then cit the slits. Make only the vertical slits - do not make any horizontal slits, as you did when making the template.
3. Place a ruler or straight edge at the bottom edge of the slits to keep them aligned. Use a bone folder to carefully make score marks between the cuts, which will make the tabs easier to fold.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 on all of the folded sections.

Folding the pop-ups

1. Starting with the first pleat, take one scored section and fold it over, creasing along the scored line. Fold it in one direction and then bend it backward and crease it in the other direction.
2. Continue creasing the other sections in the pleat.
3. Open the entire pleat and push the creased sections through the fold so that they pop up.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 on every pleat.

Final assembly

1. With the pop-ups showing as mountain folds (popping out to look like peaks), apply white glue or a piece of double-sided tape to the 1/4-inch seam and attach it to the edge of the pleat on the opposite side.
2. Apply a piece of double-sided tape to one of the shorter edges of the vellum. Attach the edge to the opposite side to create a cylinder.
3. Place the cylinder inside of the star lantern and place them both over the glass votive candle holder. Place the tea light or the votive candle inside the votive holder.