Material of the Week - Tracing Paper

Apologies for delayed update. Last week of school holidays and I have been very busy with my children's social life. No time for my own projects, unfortunately, although I was dying to try my latest idea and post it here. This week's material of the week is tracing paper. It's a supereasy project and at the same time a very personal present for friends and family.

The summer is slowly coming to an end and days will be getting darker. I like all seasons, but the lack of light does get me down a bit, I have to admit. So no harm in thinking of some nice lighting ideas now. And I came up with an idea that combines my love of crafting with my passion for photography. I can now have my own images glowingly remind me of my favourite memories: Paper lanterns made from tracing paper, printed with photos.



I bought a pad of tracing paper in my stationer's. The tracing paper is size A4 and 112 gsm, basically the thickest tracing paper I could get. I simply printed some of my favourite photos onto the tracing paper which I had cut to size beforehand.

I then used my sewing machine to sew two sheets of tracing paper together. I experimented with various stitches and lengths to see what is the best design. I quite like the longish zig-zags.

In order to make your lantern glow, just pop a nightlight into a glass votive and then carefully slide the lantern over it. Make sure the nightlight sits in the glass and there is not an open flame touching the paper. - As I didn't have enough glass votives I also used jam jars and wineglasses. Experiment with the right size votive so that you avoid the shadow of the glass rim on your image. (See right)


You can experiment with images - make a photo of a candle glow with the nightlight. Or light up a sunflower from the inside. Lots of possibilities. - Almost makes me look forward to darker evenings now, curled up in front of the fire with a steaming cup of tea by my side, a good book on my lap and the photo lanterns on the mantlepiece. Awwwwwwwwwwwww...