We are getting in a spooky mood here at Heathlands with the run up to Halloween. Today we’ve mean making tealight jars, inspired by Helen W’s tissue paper lantern jars that can be found here!
You will need:
A glass jar
PVA Glue watered down. Around 50:50 is perfect.
A paintbrush
Tissue paper. White and black for a ghost and orange and black for a pumpkin.
Scissors
A pencil
Some scrap paper or newsprint to work on.
How to make your Halloween jar:
Decide what style of jar you are making and pick appropriately coloured tissue paper.
Water down your PVA and mix well.
Cut your tissue paper into 2-3cm squares.
Paint a little of your jar at a time and make one even layer of tissue paper all over. Making sure there are no gaps.
Use a hairdryer if you want to speed up the drying process, or leave overnight to set.
Fold a small piece of black tissue paper in half and from the folded edge draw a mouth. Also draw an eye shape. Cut these out, the mouth should be one piece and symmetrical, you should have two eyes that match.
Glue these on and paint another layer of glue all over. Leave to dry.
Put a tealight in your jar and place it in your window!
Collagraphs are basically print plates made by creating a collage. In this post we’ll show you how to make a simple collagraph from bits and pieces of paper and how to take rubbings from your collagraph.
You will Need:
Cardboard
Scraps of different textured papers (e.g. wallpaper samples, tissue paper and so on)
Scraps of fabric or lace (if you have them)
Paper to make your rubbings on, we’ve got some plain paper and some coloured paper
Glue (we’re just using a glue stick for this example)
Scissors
Crayons
Graphite stick (if you have one)
Step 1.
Cut a piece of cardboard to use as your base, ours is around 10 x 15 cm.
Step 2.
Either on your base card or on a scrap piece of paper sketch out your design. Here we’ve made a simple design based on a cup.
Step 3.
Cut and tear pieces of textured paper to create a textural collage of the different sections of your design. You could also try using fabric, lace, string or anything else textured you can stick down!
Step 4.
When you’re happy with your arrangement glue it all down. Make sure you use enough glue to ensure everything is secure and all the edges are well stuck down.
Step 5.
Now we’re ready to make a rubbing! Place a piece of paper over the top of your collagraph and using the flat side of a crayon or graphite stick rub over the surface to pick up the textures. You’ll probably need to use one hand to hold the paper steady while you work so it doesn’t move or you could tape it down as you work. You should see your design coming through, showing all the different textures you’ve collaged.
Step 6.
Experiment with making rubbings on different coloured papers, papers of different thicknesses and try using different coloured crayons to highlight different sections. Each rubbing you make will be a bit different, you could make a whole set of images!
Have fun and don’t forget to show us how you get on!
Inspired by all the beautiful wild flowers blooming at the moment we’ve made a lovely tea light lantern from a jar and some tissue paper. It looks really beautiful all lit up. We’re using a battery powered tea light in ours, if you want to use a real candle remember to never leave it unattended when it’s lit and make sure it’s not near anything flammable.
You will need:
Tissue paper (we’ve used blue and green for the background and pinks and yellows for the flowers)
Glass jar (washed and dried)
Glue (PVA works well)
Scissors
Tea light
Step 1.
Cut or rip up your tissue paper for the background into small pieces. We’re making a simple design with sky, grass and flowers but you can use your imagination and either make your own design or just use a riot of colours!
Step 2.
Cut out flower shapes from your other bits of tissue paper.
Step 3.
Cover part of the jar with PVA glue and then start layering up your background tissue paper onto the glue. Work around the jar until the whole jar is covered.
Step 4.
Add spots of glue where you want your flowers and then carefully stick them on top.
Step 5.
Give the whole jar a coat of PVA and allow to dry.
Step 6.
Add in your tea light, light it up and enjoy! Have fun and don’t forget to share your makes with us!
Heathlands 