Okay, I promised to share some of my mistakes with you so that you don't have to make the same ones...so I am even going to show you this photo! The pic on the left is a photo of recently unmolded lantern elements before any carving and before I realized that I needed to switch up the dimensions of the lantern to make it more pleasing to the eye! The photo on the right was the final product.
First off, I want to share what I used as molds or forms. See the base? This started out as a childs plastic step stool. I basically covered it in thick tufa around all outer surfaces. One leg promptly broke off when I unmolded it. This was not a good idea. Later I had my husband make a box for me that I could fill with tufa. I will include photos of it at a later date.
The next element when going from the ground up was a 14" plastic plant saucer. This is how it looks when it comes out. It will have sharp edges and appear shiny until you rough it up with a wire brush and rasp to shape it.
For the "light box" as they call the part that would hold a candle, I used a plastic container that my Miracle Gro fertilizer came in. I liked the shape because although it was square, it had rounded edges and corners which saved me some carving time later.
On top of that is another 14" stepping stone, but as you can see, it is just too small. It makes the lantern appear squatty and out of proportion. But I only learn by trying it out and seeing how it looks. I later substituted a large plastic plant saucer that was about 20" in diameter as seen in the photo on the right.
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