DIY Diwali Paper Lantern (Kandeel)

Diwali is just a few days away and I am still not organised for the biggest festival of the year! Still I managed to make a few decorations and get into the mood which is pretty hard to explain to a toddler when we live out of India. There are no decorations in the markets or crackers on the street or aroma of delicious food coming out of every door in the neighbourhood. Oh how I miss home during Diwali! It is just not the same but H and I are determined that E would enjoy Diwali just as much as we did as kids so here I am starting with the very first craft for this year's Diwali, the Kandeel and it hangs beautifully outside my main door!

This shape of the Kandeel is very popular in recent years. The Kandeel would be made of tissue paper or plastic sheets so that it illuminates when the light passes through. I have used much thicker paper and didn't even punch any holes in mine so it is not very "functional" but it solves the purpose nevertheless!

I like bright traditional Indian colours for the Diwali decorations, so I've selected a Yellow sheet with glitter spots for the base and orange and red origami paper for the rest.

what you need:

You need to decide how big you want your kandeel first.
I have used a rectangular (22inch by 10 inch) card stock paper strip for the base. 
5 inch Red and orange origami paper squares
Red tissue paper for fringes
sequins or any embellishments
double sided sticky tape
sticky tape
a string for hanging
pinking shears
scissors

Here is how to make this:

Roll the card stock paper into a cylinder of any diameter you like your kandeel to be. Use sticky tape to hold the ends of the cylinder in place. Now cut the red colour origami paper into four with a pinking shears. Stick these in the centre of the orange origami square papers. 

Now stick together two diagonal ends of the origami square paper using a sticky tape. Make roughly 10-12 of these shapes. Use double sided tape to stick this on the yellow paper cylinder. 

Make sure to add some double sided tape on the sides as well as shown in the picture below.

 Add some sequins or stones or any embellishments you like to decorate your kandeel and then add some tissue paper strips as fringes on the bottom edge of the kandeel using a sticky tape on the inside.

                     

All done! It is very simple to make and can have as many variations as you like. Add different shapes or use different edged scissors or make it multicoloured, get creative!