Simple Elegant Paper Lantern/Lamp Easy!

For under ten dollars I made this very stylish but simple color changing light fixture. It was soooo easy to make and the result is a great eye catcher!

Ok so to start this project off we need:
-A white Chinese paper lantern (dollar store or I bought a 12" one off eBay for $1.25)
-A light socket extension (if you want to use it for the same application I do you need one mine cost about $3 on eBay)
-About 30-35 sheets of white computer paper
-A paper clip
-A hot glue gun
-Also optional if you want your lantern to be color changing you can buy an rgb led light bulb with remote on eBay and it looks great! ( I got mine for about $5 on eBay)

All together the cost of materials for me was approx. $8.25 to make this project and it could be even less if you want to just use it with an existing lamp as a shade or if you wish to just use a regular lightbulb rather than an rgb lightbulb.

Alright so the first thing we need to do is take our computer paper and square it off. You can do this by measuring, or you can fold it diagonally and cut off the paper which excess hangs over. Then fold and cut our square into four equal squares. Now we have four of the sheets which we will use I make the texture on our lantern. We will be making those paper fortune tellers for the next steps!

Next we take one of our squares and we fold it along both diagonals. Then we fold all the corners in toward the middle. Next very important step is to flip the whole thing over, then you simply fold all the corners in again.

Next we can fold the paper horizontally which will allow you to notice four "flaps" that you created which are perfect spaces for your fingers. The last step is to just put your fingers in these flaps and simply push them toward the center, like your trying to touch them together. This will create the fortune teller! Well there's one. It takes about 125 of these to cover a 12" diameter circle so it's best to get some friends to help or do it while watching tv or relaxing, they don't need to be perfect.

Next we heat our hot glue gun up and get ready to glue on our fortune tellers. Just a very small dab in the center of the bottom of your fortune tellers will hold them in place on the lantern. You can start from the bottom like I do and work your way up or start from the middle either way works. If you have any open spaces too small for another fortune teller you can cut or in half to fit it in as well!

Once your finished gluing on your 125 fortune tellers, it's time to mount it on your fixture. If you want to use it as a shade for a lamp you can mount it on any way you can think or if you want to use a socket extender like I did from the ceiling, you can just use a paper clip! All you have to do is bend the paper clip in half and hook both sides on the wire of the lantern as shown in the pictures.

Then just twist the extender into the light socket and enjoy your new light fixture! If you used an rgb led bulb I recommend putting it on fade which looks awesome! I hope you enjoyed my ible, and if so please vote for me for the paper crafts contest! Thank you! :)