Training the villagers, young and old, in the ancient art of lantern making, is one of the main activities of Moonraking.
We hold workshops for four or five days before the lantern procession, and occasionally have outreach training sessions in other villages. Lanterns are made from three basic materials, willow, known as withy, masking tape and tissue paper.
The willow is cut in the autumn and left in pools of water for the bark to soften. This is then removed, and the withy is then sorted into lengths and tied into bundles ready for use. Stronger withy is used for the lantern's main structural components, and the weaker for infill or pattern making.
There are many ways to make a lantern, but the basic form used to start off with is the circle. The withy is soaked in water to make it pliable and rolled into a circle, and the ends are secured with masking tape. Other circles are then added to the first one to make up the basic sphere structure
A circle from one or two withies |
add another at 90 degrees |
and a third around them both |
Its a sphere |
After that it is down to your imagination! Additional
withies are added for the infill and pattern until the lantern shape
is complete.
A candle is the fixed in a safe position within the lantern,
complete with drip tray, and tissue paper is glued to the outside and
left to dry.
There
is a lot more to it, but that is the basics of lantern making.
For a lantern slide of the workshops click here.
for one of lanterns click here .
