How to Make a Starry Night Lantern
An early spring craft from my latest book on seasonal living
Somewhere over the rainclouds, the days are beginning to lengthen here in the UK. In celebration of the first signs of spring, I thought I’d share one of the crafts from my latest book Ebb and Flow: A Guide to Seasonal Living, published last autumn with Bloomsbury. This simple craft is a great way to repurpose old soup and baked-bean cans, leaving you with an understated lantern for those first spring evenings in the garden with friends.
They also make wonderful wedding favours and decorations, strung in rows along walls and over dance floors. Experiment with random markings or try recreating constellations, words, flowers, leaves and patterns. The instructions below are for a ‘naked’ lantern, but you could also use two coats of acrylic paint to add extra detail and colour, such as the aurora borealis or a glowing sunset. You can also use a citronella candle in the lantern, made with the oil of the lemongrass plant, to humanely keep insects at bay.
If you love crafting and connecting with the seasons, you might enjoy my newest book! Ebb and Flow: A Guide to Seasonal Living is an illustrated homage to tuning into the rhythms of nature. Seasonal living is not just a hobby - it really has become a way of life for me, and something I commit to more and more with every passing year. Noticing the wildflowers blossoming, growing pumpkins in my garden, cooking with seasonal food, embracing the lighter and darker halves of the year. It all helps me reconcile so many complexities of modern life by reflecting on three questions: What would my animal self do in this situation? What is the natural, instinctive path forward here? And how have our consumerist, way-too-busy lifestyles led us astray from a simpler way of being?
If you liked this post…
If you’re looking for the perfect Easter craft, this free bunny plush pattern on Gathered is adorbs
The first episode of the 90s Moomin show is all about the Moomins waking up for spring and discovering a mysterious magical hat
A great piece on BBC News today about all the ways you can fight climate change in your home
