Marker Monday - Tin Can Lantern

I found a book on colonial crafts at the library with the intention of building a drop spindle to spin wool my sister sent me. That was an utter disaster that doesn't even warrant its own blog post.

But in the same book (sorry, I already returned it and don't remember the title) we did find instructions on how to make a tin can lantern. Paul Revere was a silversmith and probably made similar lanterns in his day.

First fill a clean tin can with water and freeze overnight. The ice prevents the can from being smashed while you are hammering the holes.

Then draw on a design with a permanent marker.

Using a large nail and hammer make holes along the lines of your design. The closer the holes the better your design will turn out. If you don't make enough holes, the light won't shine out well and your design won't show up very well. Don't forget to draw a dot on each side at the top. That's where you'll put your handle.

Yap. We found laying the can on a towel keeps it from sliding around and makes it much easier to handle. Also, if you get tired working on it just pop it back into the freezer until you are ready to work on it again.

Yip...he sooned learned this little toy hammer wouldn't work...

...so he passed it on to Yahoo to play with.

When you are all done with your design allow the ice to melt out of your cans. We used a 15 oz (left) and 48 oz (right) size cans.

Cut a wire hanger about 10 inches for the small can and 12 inches for the large can.

Bend the wire with pliers to look like this.

Then attach to your lantern. You might need to use the pliers to bend it some more to make it fit.

And now you have your own colonial lantern. (Sorry for the lousy pic! I'm still trying to figure out how to take good night time shots.:P )

We are planning on hanging these outside on the porch when the wind settles down this summer.