These polymer clay lanterns lanterns are the perfect fairy garden accessory to make with kids – they are so simple most older kids could make them with minimal adult help!
(Polymer clay does require baking in the oven, so for that part an adult should help.)
We put these lanterns in our cute broken terracotta pot garden.
Follow the picture tutorial below to create your own fairy garden lanterns from polymer clay.
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What you will need to make polymer clay lanterns:
- Polymer clay in various colors (we used yellow, blue, red, + black)
- A knife (for cutting the clay)
- a few inches of wire (if you want to make a hanging lantern)
How to Make Simple Polymer Clay Fairy Garden Lanterns
Start by creating a yellow cube from polymer clay. (Yellow because this will give the lantern the “light is on” look!)
Next, roll some polymer clay (in any color, I used red) into a long thin snake.
Trim 12 pieces about the same height as your yellow cube, and press 8 of those pieces onto your cube (from corner to corner) on all four sides.
When you’ve added your X shapes on all four sides of the cube, press the remaining 4 pieces along the vertical edges of the cube.
To make the base of the red lantern, I flatted a ball with my finger.
Then I pressed the lantern onto it. (I found for the standing lamp posts I made, if you cut the top and bottom of the cube off first, it looks much tidier… but oh well.)
I did the same for the top, and added 2 more flattened circles of smaller sizes to finish it.
Finally, I added a tiny black dot as the “starter” button. (Lanterns have those right?)
My kids and I have made so many fun fairy garden accessories from polymer clay – you might like these tutorials also:
Polymer Clay Fairy Garden Ladders
Magical Polymer Clay Toadstools
How to Make Fairy Doors from Polymer Clay
I decided one lantern wasn’t enough, so I made a blue one too!
I made the blue one basically the same way:
I decided to make square base + top for the blue one:
Cuuuuute!
Because I wanted the blue one to be a hanging lantern, I threaded a piece of wire through the whole thing before baking.
The lanterns are far from perfect, but remember when you are making a fairy garden for a child, fun is more important than perfection!
These adorable polymer clay lanterns for fairy gardens took me about 20 minutes. They were SO easy – and my kids LOVE them!