Tuesday, September 16, 2008

lacy luminaria: fastest project to date

I couldn't wait. I had this urgency to work on these. Maybe because they seemed like an instant gratification sort of project. It's good to balance out the long-term effortfests with a little fluff now and then.

So, just like Martha says, all you have to do is slice and dice some gold paper doilies and gluestick them to the insides of some lunch bags. I chose petite bags, mostly because they were there. But larger bags would be nice for variety.
The candle inside is one of a 12-pack of pre-filled votives I bought on sale at Michael's - they were cheap, and I wanted to test burn times. Mine burned about 2/3 in six hours and probably could have gone to eight or nine, easily.
I'm imagining that these will be so pretty lighting the walk up to the barn, and dotted around the courtyard below. Of course, watch. It will rain housepets that day and I'll end up using these for Christmas decorations for years to come.

6 comments:

lilac_leaf said...

Larger bags might keep the sides of the bag away from the flame. They'd blow over easier, but if you put a little sand in the bottom, you'd be in good shape.

I think they look very nice.

Don't forget to look at Goodwill for silver stuff. It probably won't be the real deal, but it will be cheap. Are you going for shiny silver or shabby chic silver?

Julia said...

Thanks! I'm not being picky about the silver - shiny or shabby, either way is fine. I'll probably end up with mostly silverplate. I'm thinking pitchers, teapots, creamers and sugar bowls, and bowl-style compotes.

lilac_leaf said...

Are you using these for food or for decorative purposes? And how many of these things do you need? 'Cause I could look around here too if you want me to.

Anonymous said...

There's a charity shop in downtown Barrington that often has a good collection of silver at surprisingly cheap prices (the longer it sits in the shop, the cheaper it gets). I don't know if you want to take the chance of loaner silver, but I may have a few things that would work. As for luminaria, we do these in our neighborhood every Christmas (but without the fancy doilies). We've found that the best way to keep the bag from blowing onto the flame is to fold out around the edge of the bag. It's tricky, but it's extremely effective. And also, sand works well, but so does kitty litter (unscented), and it's easier to pour.

Julia said...

Harriet, I can pretty much guarantee no theft. But how you feel about loaning might be influenced by how I plan to use it - stuffed with floral foam and flowers.

The charity shop sounds promising - would you send me what you know about it?

Anonymous said...

ooohhh those are gorgeous! and so doable!!! What a great idea! Thanks!