By Sarah Dexter
How to make: Mummified Glass Lanterns
You will need:
- All purpose flour
- Glass jar (canning, old spaghetti jar, whatever you can find)
- Elmer’s Glue
- Water
- “Bandage” strips (you can use paper towel, cheesecloth, gauze tape)
- Paper
- Black marker
- Mixing bowl
- Tea candle
- Scissors
Be ready for a bit of mess; place newspaper/old magazines underneath the crafting area.
If you don’t have some of these crafting supplies around the house, try checking out The I.D.E.A Store. They have a large variety of crafting supplies, and every purchase helps support local K-12 education through the Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation.
1. R.I.P bandages
Cut your mummy bandages into long strips. You’ll use these strips to wrap the jar. Don’t worry about all of them being the exact width or length. Perfection is not needed here!
The “bandages” can be made from paper towels, cheesecloth, gauze tape, etc. You can use a variety of things; I used paper towels because that’s what I had on hand.
2. Easy as paste.
In a small bowl, mix together water and flour until you reach a thick gravy consistency. Make sure you let your child mix this by hand. The size of your jars and how many you use will depend on the amount of paste needed.
Next, add a few swirls of Elmer’s glue into the flour mix and stir once more. The glue will help hold the bandages to the jar, so if you’re unsure how much glue to use, add some more! The stickier the better.
3. Bandage her up!
Now dip your strips into the flour paste, covering them completely. Squeeze the extra paste off the strip and begin to mummify (wrap) your jar. Continue this process till the jar is completely covered. You can overlap certain areas or leave some a little barer. Experiment and see what you and your child like best.
Let the jar sit overnight to completely dry before adding the facial features.
4. Let’s face it!
On the white paper, using a black marker, draw and cut eyes to glue on with Elmer’s glue. For the mouth, use the same black marker to draw directly on the jar. You can play around with different expressions, using the other side as well.
5. Let there be light
Lastly, place your tea candle inside the jar, making sure it’s directly below the opening so heat can escape. Then just light!
Now you have a fun, eco-friendly Halloween craft that will light the way for those trick-or-treaters.
To make this completely eco-friendly, soak the jars in water to remove the wrappings before recycling them.
Sarah Dexter is the communications intern at the I.D.E.A Store in Champaign.