Chinese New Year Lantern

Techniques: Cut and Paste, Basic Crafting

Materials:
3" styrofoam ball
red and black joss paper, or similar
Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish
red fringe
pva glue
black gimp braid
15cm red cord

Tools:
paintbrush
kitchen sponge
hot glue gun

Cut the joss paper into 1/2" squares. Brush a small amount of Liquitex onto the styrofoam ball, place on a square of joss paper, brush over with paintbrush to smooth down. Repeat this over half the ball, overlapping squares randomly. Allow to dry for several hours and finish the remainder of the ball in the same manner. Once thoroughly dry give a finishing coat of Liquitex.

Take a 15 - 20cm piece of black gimp cord, place a dab of glue at one end and place the cut edges of the red cord in place so that it forms a loop (this is your hanger). Wrap the piece of braid tightly around the cord to form a roll. Secure the end with a dab of glue to prevent fraying and glue into place on the top of the ball.

Lay a 15cm - 20cm piece of red fringing flat on your workbench. Run a thin line of glue along the top edge and roll up tightly. Wrap a small piece of black gimp braid around the top edge of the fringe and glue to the bottom off the ball, being careful to make sure it is not offset to the top, but in line so that it hangs properly.

Year Of The Rabbit

February 3rd marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year in 2011. This is the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Zodiac providing the inspiration for this ornament, however you could make this with the animal that symbolizes your birth year if you prefer.

Techniques: Knotting, Cut and Paste

Materials:
paper mache luggage tag
red and black joss paper, or similar
white chipboard or thick card
acrylic paints
sealant, such as Liquitex or Royal Coat
pva glue
1/2 metre red cord
double sided mounting tape or foam
large bead

Tools:
scissors

Cover the paper mache tag with the red and black joss paper. Print the image below onto a piece of red paper. I had some scrapbooking paper that was slightly textured, red background with a brushed gold over the top, that was perfect for this project. Glue the image onto a piece of white chipboard and cut to size. Seal both the back and front.

The square good luck knot is deceptively easy to make, all you need is a little cord, a square of paper and some good instructions. This site http://www.chineseknotting.org/luck/howto4/ shows a step by step guide to tying this knot, and if you feel adventurous, there are several other tutorials for different knots.

Glue the knot to the tag with one loop pointing upwards for hanging, and the loose tails pointing straight down the middle of the tag. Using double sided mounting tape stick the rabbit to the centre of the tag. Thread the loose ends of the cord through the bead and knot securely. Pull the bead back down to cover the knot. Fray the loose ends of the cord so it looks like a tassel.