DIY Day: The Mason Jar Project

A little while ago, I discovered a blog that had written a post about making lanterns out of mason jars (here). I love mason jars, and my mom just happens to collect them -- she used to be big on canning when we were younger. I asked her if I could have a few of them to make lanterns out of because I had seen a really neat tutorial about making lanterns out of mason jars. She gladly gave me a few, although she didn't have any giant jars, and she was reluctant to part with a few favourites.

Yesterday afternoon, after laying the little boy down for a nap, I set to work. I wiped the jars down with a wet cloth, and gathered all of my supplies. I wanted to take photographs of my work, but my camera died just as I was getting ready to snap a photo of the supplies. Instead, I have photographs of the completed jars, but the tutorial is really easy to follow.

The Line Up: My completed mason jar lanterns

I made a couple of slight variations, but that's the beauty of a DIY project isn't it.

1. I made the handle of the lantern out of the same piece of wire that wraps around the mouth of the jar. I simple created the little loop at one end, threaded the other end of the wire through, created another loop at the other end, attached it to the wire wrapped around the mouth of the jar, and then tightened the wire around the mouth of the jar. Voila!

2. Instead of using sugar crystals, I used the little round stones that you often find in fish tanks.

 

Two views of the way I wrapped the wire around the mouth of the jar

I love the feeling of having completed a project that I have been craving to do for a while now. It's nice to step back from the SHOP and focus on another project for a moment. These little lanterns are going to look fantastic on our patio during the summer months, but, for now, they will be hanging-out on the kitchen table as part of my centre piece.