# Rusty lanterns



## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

What haunt couldn't use a rusted out, flickering lantern to add to the creepy atmosphere? These lanterns are painted and textured to appear very old and rusty. The original 'pristine' lantern shown on the box below comes with a very shiny black finish and a stark white LED light. I have removed the stock LEDs and replaced them with a good quality flickering tealight candle. A great feature of the lantern is that it has a nice dimmer switch and operates off 2 AA batteries. By wiring the tealight directly to the switch, I can take advantage of variable electrical inputs which exaggerate the flickering effect from full flicker to a dim sputtering that looks like the lantern is about to go out.


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

Nice...would like to see that wiring you did.


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

this looks awesome. i love what you've done with them!


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Looks good, Dave. I'm with Jeff, I'd like to see the wiring too.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

(waving hands over a crystal ball ) - I see a "how-to" in Dave's future

These are lovely! Nothing says "spooky" like a rusted up sputtering lantern.


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

maybe I should enter this in the $20 prop contest? Hmmmm....

The wiring was really easy...will snap a pic when I get a chance.


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

me likey that.
Where did you pick up the lanterns?


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

How did you do the texture on those?

Yes, an over all how-to would be good.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Frighteners Entertainment said:


> me likey that.
> Where did you pick up the lanterns?


A couple of years ago I picked some lanterns that size at the dollar store for $2 or $3 each. But those used lamp oil. Fire would be an issue.


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

I've seen those as well, made like 40 or so of them...they sold well. But I wired them for a flicker bulb.
LED is much better.


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## susan from creepy hollow (Jun 17, 2007)

what kind of tealight did you use? i am intrigued...


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## Stinky Pete (May 2, 2011)

I just bought a LED Lantern from American Science & Surplus for $7.95. It has 16 LED's and a dimmer switch and runs on 2 D batteries. It should be perfect for a project like this. It's product # 94137 LED LANTERN. Here's the link

http://www.sciplus.com They have lots of other good prop building supplies as well.


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

Stinky Pete said:


> I just bought a LED Lantern from American Science & Surplus for $7.95. It has 16 LED's and a dimmer switch and runs on 2 D batteries. It should be perfect for a project like this. It's product # 94137 LED LANTERN. Here's the link
> 
> http://www.sciplus.com They have lots of other good prop building supplies as well.


That's pretty close to what I used. I got mine from here. It is a little smaller and runs off 2 AA batteries ( perfect voltage for the tealight)


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

Wow, those look really really good Dave - love the texture and the paint color.


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## NoahFentz (May 13, 2007)

I likee....


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

COOL Dave...!


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

Ok...sorry for the delay and lack of additional pix. I will try to answer what I can...Mods feel free to move this wherever you see fit.

The painting and texture: All i did was spray a heavy coat or red primer onto the lantern and sprinkle some sand onto it while the paint was wet. I sprayed it a second time to color the sand and help make it stick. When the primer was dry, I went over the entire thing with a wash of black acrylic paint and then misted it with water to make the black disperse and look like aging ( think tombstone aging here)

The wiring: The lantern comes with an array of 12 led that have two leads going directly to the batteries. I removed the stock leds completely and soldered the battery wires to the contacts of the flicker tealights....it really was just that easy. 

The tealight candles: I'll still have to grab the brand name, but they are a slightly more expensive tealight than what you normally see at the dollar stores and walmart. The main difference is that the inexpensive type use a small circuit to generate the flicker. The brand I picked up has an LED that flickers by itself...no circuit. There is a very subtle differnce between the two...The second type is very easy to access the internal led, making it a breeze to solder the battery wires onto the LED. All I had to do was slide out the flat 3 v watch battery, turn the tealight switch to ON, and connect to the AA batteries.

Anything else? I don't think so...this was just a matter of replcing what was there with a tealight. Questions? Ask away!


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

I love these!


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

Looks great ... I just ordered a few so I'll be checking to see which tea lights you used so I can do this as well. Thanks for the tips!


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

dave the dead said:


> A great feature of the lantern is that it has a nice dimmer switch and operates off 2 AA batteries. By wiring the tealight directly to the switch, I can take advantage of variable electrical inputs which exaggerate the flickering effect from full flicker to a dim sputtering that looks like the lantern is about to go out.


Do you think you could post a video using the dimmer with the tealights? I would really like to see how that works.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Dave, sounds like folks are going to be looking for a how-to in the how-to forum


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## susan from creepy hollow (Jun 17, 2007)

Ty!


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## pensivepumpkin (Mar 27, 2011)

This is awesome, and your description makes it seem simple enough for an electrical idiot like me to do. Starter electronic project! Yea! I finally get to move from the kid's table!


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

pensivepumpkin said:


> This is awesome, and your description makes it seem simple enough for an electrical idiot like me to do. Starter electronic project! Yea! I finally get to move from the kid's table!


Thanks PP. Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions when you get started.

The tealight candle brand is from EnjoyLighting.com I purchased mine at Target. Here's a pic showing how easy it is to disassemble and access everything inside for the wiring.


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

Thanks for the info Dave ... I'll have to check which tea lights I have and see if I have any luck with mine when I start. I bought a large pack at BJs last year so I'm not sure the brand. :googly:


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## susan from creepy hollow (Jun 17, 2007)

I just bought a set of tealights, fixing to go pick up the lantern-the store where i work sells them (we've been having BAD weather this year, tornados, hail and extended periods of time without power) the whole community has gone into survival mode, lol!
i'm excited to get started on this!


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