# DIY Creepy Lantern



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

This was just a simple, quick project I did to fulfill a need. I needed a cool looking accent light for a tombstone I am building. Seeing as I wanted to go for a grungy, semi-steampunk look, I decided I wanted to go with a crusty looking old lantern with weak light filtering out of the globe.

I started with this item, which I found at a local junk store for $3.00:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...a52064b5042de4536357&oe=56037862&size=528,960

I used Mod Podge to make the glass globe milky, and sprayed the lantern body itself with grey primer to make a rough service for my effect paint to adhere to.

Then I took creepy cloth and cut small pieces of it to use as my "paint brushes" and used a method I call "soft tap painting" to grunge it up. For grunge colors, I used flourescent green painted on heavily, then wiped off so that it only stayed in the deep creases. Then I mixed bright orange and burnt umber ( 1 tablespoon of bright orange, 4 drops of burnt umber, estimated) and soft tapped it all over the body of the lantern.

After I finished with the body, the globe was dry, so I mixed up watered down black, burnt umber, and olive drab green paint, and dripped it around the top edge of the globe to simulate weathering on the globe.This is kind of a new take on my tea-staining technique that I use on my tombstones, as I used the small plastic drip bottles that my fluid for my electronic cigarette comes in. You can see them in the background of the next pic. After everything was done, I put a dollar store flicker LED candle inside the globe, closed it all up, and spritzed flourescent green over the whole thing, to simulate verdigris on the entire prop. Hope you enjoy it!

Finished product:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...fc8ddeea59bebd00c0c9&oe=56006088&size=528,960

EDIT:
I ended up having to link to the pics on my facebook page. I will be adding more props in the near future.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I think you need to make the Facebook pictures public for us to view them.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Photos unavailable..... Roxy is right, they need to be public.


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## Spoonhead (Jan 14, 2014)

I agree...I can't see them either.


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

*Nor can I. 
Interested in this project as I too have a lantern that I use in my haunt. I just took one of those LED Flicker Tea Lights and took it apart and put it in place of the bulb it already had. The bulb was too bright and didn't flicker, so it had to go.*


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Sorry about that. Apparently when I upload from my phone it makes them private. It has been fixed now.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Definitely an improvement from the shiny new red look the lantern had


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

You really know how to spookify, nice work


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## deadSusan (Jun 26, 2013)

Really good job.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Love it Bio....I need about a dozen of these guys for my graveyard.


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

Very nice Bio. I have some square red lanterns that I'd like to do this with. Thanks for postin'!


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

All told I have approximately $4.00 tied up in this project.

$2.00 for each lantern
$.50 each for LED flicker candles ( I love Dollar Tree)
$.25 per bottle of paint. ( I used black, orange, brown and green.)

I'm going back to the junk shop where I bought these lanterns to see if he has any more, as I have a sneaking idea that they would work well as wall hung lighting in a steampunk alley scene I'd like to build, but I need about a dozen for the effect I want to portray.


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## matrixmom (Aug 20, 2011)

The faux finish is awesome. Looks great in the daylight too!! If you can unscrew the bottom of these, you can put c7 led bulbs with extension cords (hide the cords accord to your backdrops) and set them all on a timer instead of battery operated flicker bulbs.


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## madmomma (Jul 1, 2009)

Great revamping of lantern! Nice job


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