Make A Paper Mache Tower of Vintage Holloween Lanterns!

My finished lantern tower from bottom to top includes a vintage Jack-O-Lantern, a watermelon
man and a classic black cat. Each character head is light-up with a battery operated, votive 
candle light. 

       The supplies needed for this project are: newsprint, balloons, masking tape, white school glue, paper mache pulp, parchment paper, permanent ink pens, Mod Podge and acrylic paints.

Left, the backside of my lantern shows the layers of newsprint, glue and masking tape. 
Center, above you can see that a then carved out the holes for the battery operated votives.
Right, on the front of the lanterns, I sketched simple shapes for the openings of the lanterns.

       Blow-up three smallish balloons to shape this version of a lantern tower. You can use larger balloons if you wish. My tower measures approximately ten inches tall, but any size is nice. 

       Next, shred a stack of newsprint and cover all of the surfaces of the balloons with layers of white school glue and newsprint. 

       Let the balloons dry over night in a warm dry space. 

       On the following day glue and tape the forms on top of each other to fashion a 'snowman' looking character. 

       Then cover this object again with newsprint strips and white school glue; leaving it to dry a second time over night. 

       Once the balloon shapes have dried, carve out three whole in the backside of the lantern to accommodate the battery operated lights. In the process of this the balloons will be popped.

       Remove the balloon material. 

       Use a permanent ink marker to sketch out the features of each face on the front of the lantern.

Above on the left and right, is the tower covered and reinforced using masking tape both inside 
and outside of my forms.

       I then cut out the openings for eyes, nose and mouth for each of my creatures.

       Then I covered the forms with masking tape to reinforce the tower before adding a final layer of paper mache pulp.

Above are photos of the lanterns once covered with paper mache pulp. 

       With the final layer of paper pulp, I sculpted the cat's fur, the melon's skin and my pumpkin's ridges and extreme grin. All of these characters are based upon antique variations most commonly used in similar candy buckets produced for the American Halloween novelty markets during the 1920s through the 1940s. 

Keep the paint layers heavy if opting-out of a coat of Gesso or primer as I did on this project.

       Paint each lantern a thick base color of your own preference. Because I did not use Gesso in this procedure, I opted to layer the acrylic on thick. Then I covered the surfaces with a layer of Mod Podge before adding even more details in a second coat of paint.

Here you can see the painted details of the faces.

       The final step after painting on more details and another coat of Mod Podge, is to glue the parchment papers inside of each head. Parchment is much stronger than tissue paper and the lights glow just as nicely through it. 

       Once the parchment is dry, us pens or paint to add teeth, tongues, nose paint and eyeballs to the surfaces of the parchment.

Display a similar antique lantern on your fireplace hearth or Halloween table this year! These
are so much fun to make; every home needs a little nostalgia for the
 Autumnal calendar events...