# Hackable lanterns at Big Lots



## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Just found these citronella lanterns at Big Lots, $5.60 each, good sized, very hackable. I picked up 2, may get more.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Spooky1 picked up some of those as well. We were debating leaving them outside to naturally age before Halloween


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## jmarkc (May 31, 2011)

Are these unfinished? Love the look and especially the price! I picked up one from WalMart that has a red finish to it. Have had it sitting outside for a couple months now and see very little aging. I think I need to take some steel wool to it to speed the process.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

JM, I believe they are just plain metal. We can double check tonight when we get home.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

What do you mean unfinished? It's cheap crappy Chinese metal with a light coat of paint. Bought two of these last week 50% off @ $8 = $4 each

EDIT: the paint looks like a crappy light powder coat


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I think Lord H is correct - they appear to have maybe a light finish of some kind, nothing that couldn't be changed with a little steel wool action or paint


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

I checked the reciept, they are indeed 50% off which means $4 each.

As far as weathering, I plan on taking the glass out, rubbing the lantern through some gravel and banging it around on the driveway, quick rub with some dark stain, mist it with some brown and black spray paint, reinsert glass and then a final mist of white spray paint, boom, instant old dusty looking beat up lantern.


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## jmarkc (May 31, 2011)

Cool, thanks Roxy. Good idea for aging them, johnny. Will likely grab a couple!


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

Gravel + 5 gal bucket. I was going to take the glass out and roll it around in a 5 gal bucket partially full of gravel. Just some extra ideas 

For rust effect, can't you just sand down to the bare metal, dip in water and let dry?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

^Yes, but using HJ's technique is more fun

Another good rusting tutorial posted by Jaybo is here:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=21644&highlight=jaybo+rust


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

There are some excellent tutorials for rust in the forum, I think patena is the applicable term. 

I'd rather spend time building ghosts, my rust is some simple acrylics; dark brown/red with some dirt mixed in to define the rusted area, followed by a dry brushing of ochre and orange. I am not positive about the colors, I just grab whatever looks good.

I may have to age a couple of lanterns this weekend to get the juices flowing :googly:


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

I tried some things with one of the lanterns. The finish is weather resistant, but I found that scraping sanding that away and leaving the lantern outside for week (at least in Florida) resulted in a good amount of rust. I did a quick age job and am happy with the results










If you have LED tealights, they fit nicely in the lantern. I had a tea light I hacked with an ultrabright green LED a while back and took a quick video of it.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Nothing better than having Mother Nature help out with a prop The rust and tealight look good.


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## Systematic Chaos (Sep 7, 2008)

Very cool! I wonder if one could be made bright enough to light up the body/face of the prop holding it.


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## Kraken (Sep 7, 2012)

I had picked up three of these a couple of weeks ago as well. I am thinking about making a "carbon" ring on the glass....any ideas on how? Just black spray paint?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

^How about doing it the old fashioned way - burn some candles in the lantern over the next few weeks?


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## silentskream (Sep 20, 2012)

I'd love to see more examples of what you guys have done with these!


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## camsauce (Oct 16, 2009)

Do you have a shot of the bottom of the lantern? Did you drill it out or does the glass lift somehow to get an LED in there?


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

The bottom is hollow, and you turn the candle holder and drop it out of the bottom. A standard tea light will fit nicely in the holder. To remove the glass, each 'pole' that holds the base to the top has a single screw on each end, very easy to remove and replace.


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## ironlou (Sep 23, 2012)

Forgive me, what does hackable mean?


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## Kraken (Sep 7, 2012)

So, I decided to give it a try, making this lantern better. I sprayed the inside with flat black for "soot" and hit the outside with a tan and red "stone" spray paint for rust:

View attachment 2913


Turned out much better than I thought it would. Sorry for the crappy picture.


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

Kraken - that turned out pretty nice!


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## Kraken (Sep 7, 2012)

the rust paint is actually much lighter than in the picture. I will try to take another one today in sun light.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Nice! What are you using for a light?


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## Kraken (Sep 7, 2012)

cheapo LED flicker tea lights. I will be adding spots for actual light, but they look pretty good in the light and the dark.


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