How to Build a Giant Lantern

For our third annual Firelight Lantern Festival I wanted to build something really special for the parade. When I saw pictures of giant lanterns from the Minneapolis Lantern Festival, I was totally inspired. I contacted my friend, fellow puppet artist Mary Plaster, as she'd assisted in making the lanterns, and she gave me some great tips.

The inspiration came from the MPLS Lantern Festival.
Photo: Dusty Hoskovec/Minneapolis Downtown Council

With artist friends Susanne Larner and Nell Casson on board for this project, we decided to make two giant lanterns, a rabbit and a turtle, to go with this year's theme of 'earth.' Both animals are local to our area and are resplendent with symbolism, from fables to literature to First Nations' mythology. I had seen the sketches the MPLS Festival artists had made; they were very elaborate. I guess we're into a more organic approach.

Planning? Yeah, that's enough planning.

We acquired the requisite materials: 6-foot lengths of bamboo, lots of plain white sheets, masking tape and hot glue. To begin, we had to split the bamboo, which was its own learning curve. Pro-tip: wear gloves! Split bamboo is very sharp and splintery, our hands got terribly cut up the first day. I found the easiest way to split the bamboo was to use a pair of garden shears to split the end and slide the shears down the split. Generally splitting them into quarters seemed to work quite well. The bamboo becomes very flexible yet is still very strong.

L to R: Nell Casson, Susanne Larner, Krista Dalby
with our bunny skeleton

We started out building the frame of the rabbit's body, a big oval shape, and made cross-bars from unsplit bamboo for structural support. We attached the bamboo together with joints of masking tape. Once we'd made the body, we could divide up the different tasks: someone made the hind legs, someone else the head, tail, and front legs. We attached it all together, but left the head separate. When the structure was finished we sprayed the joints with Rockerguard - an automotive product that is basically a rubberized glue that ensured that if the masking tape dried out all the joints wouldn't spring apart.

Nell channelling her inner bunny.

Next we had to install the lights. This was a bit nerve-wracking as once the fabric was applied to the outside, it would be difficult to change them. We did a few tests using a three different types of LED lights: strings, hanging bulbs, and push-lights. We needed somewhere for the battery packs to go, so we hot glued some tube socks to the inner part of the frame, and fit a few battery packs in each one. 

Lighting test

We wanted to be able to carry the lanterns atop of large poles, but have the ability to take the poles out for transportation and storage, so we added cardboard tubes and sealed up the tops, so the poles could easily slide in yet be quite stable.

Carrying test

Satisfied with our structure, we started applying the covering. We worked section by section pulling the sheets tightly over the structure and hot gluing the fabric to the bamboo.

As we needed access to the battery packs to light up our lanterns, we decided where the best access points would be, and created flaps held in place with velcro.

Artist Don Maynard (R) joined our lantern-building crew

I'm glad we started this project early, because it took quite a long time. Final touches included adding black felt for eyes; being a puppeteer I know that eyes really bring characters to life. We left the head off until after it was lit up, and attached it with zip ties, then tied a flowy ruff around the neck to hide the seam.

We were all really happy with how our giant lanterns turned out, and they looked so magical floating down Main Street Picton in our parade.

Photo by Ramesh Pooran

The lanterns were very lightweight and easy to carry. We provided our "lanterneers" with cumberbunds, small pouches worn around their waists, giving them a place to rest the ends of their poles.

Team Turtle having a great old time. Photo by Ramesh Pooran.

Photo by Eve Harvey

Big thanks to everyone who helped make and carry our giant lanterns. What should we make next year? 

Scarecrows in the County

Last weekend we hosted our third annual Scarecrow Festival. We always hold this event on the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving because it is such a fun activity for people spending time with their families.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and warm, with brilliant fall colours all around us.

When people arrive at the farm they are provided with a cross-shaped wooden frame on which to make their scarecrow. We give them a little bit of instruction, and send them to the barn so they can rummage through mountains of clothes to dress their scarecrows.

Then they head back outside to dress and stuff their creations.

Before long, some wonderful characters start to emerge...

... Such as "Eunice", who apparently "works in HR"...

 And this dentally-challenged chap who, er, likes to get high...

Sure, there are your shifty types...

...And your basically beautiful big families...

...And all kids just look insanely cute against a background of straw...

...And then there's some families who just love their kids so much that even their scarecrows have to have babies!

All of the proceeds of this year's festival are going to Puppets Without Borders; a project that will be taking me and Susanne Larner back to Ghana in February 2014, bringing puppetry and art supplies to kids in rural villages.

Me and Brie, rocking the donation box

This Thanksgiving we were super-duper thankful for all of our friends and supporters who helped make this year's Scarecrow Festival such a success: Sandra Henderson, Brie Kaduc-Stojsic, Terry Veevers, Nell Casson, Kelly Roblin, Andy Sheath, Georgia Larner, George Emlaw, Picton Metro, Picton Home Hardware, and City Revival. 

See you next Thanksgiving!

The Firelight Lantern Festival

It was a full year ago that Susanne Larner approached me with the idea of starting a lantern festival in the County. We didn’t know each other very well at the time*, but she knew that I had a background in producing theatre and festivals; I had, in fact, been a participant in Toronto’s Kensington Market Festival of Lights for a number of years, so I knew exactly what type of magic she was dreaming of conjuring. Susanne’s inspiration was the Illuminaires festival that she'd seen in Vancouver. Although Prince Edward County is known for its abundant creativity, we had no events like this, and Susanne and I agreed it would be a great way to bring our community together.

poster image by Milé Murtanovski

We put out an invitation to some other creative types, and soon we were calling ourselves "The Department of Illumination." Our goal was to light up the place we love.

The Department of Illumination. Back row, L to R: Norman Marland, Nell Casson, Krista Dalby, Shelby Larner, Susanne Larner, Liz Zylstra. Front row: Milé Murtanovski, Chrissy Poitras, Kyle Topping.

We knew that community engagement would be the heart of our success, so we planned 15 lantern-making workshops throughout the County. There was nowhere we wouldn’t go; we held workshops at a seniors’ home, five library branches, The Bloomfield Centre for Creativity, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Books & Company, Spark Box Studio, and held a special workshop for the Brownies and Guides.

The workshops were an incredible success as more than 300 people turned out to make lanterns with us. We had chosen water as a theme for our festival, although we told people that it was more important for them to express themselves than to stick with the theme. I could relay dozens of stories from these workshops, but one of my favourites is of a father who came to drop off his son. The dad decided to stay for a few minutes to help, and before he knew it, was deeply involved in constructing his own lantern and stayed all afternoon. When his wife called to find out if he was on his way home, he responded "Are you kidding? This is more fun then I've had in months."

Workshop at Emmanuel Baptist Church

Back at Small Pond Arts, the lanterns were piling up…

Most people took their lanterns home, but we made 40+ more to display in libraries and shop windows, and to sell at the festival for those who hadn’t had a chance to make their own.

The day of the festival arrived. Our plan was to gather at Benson Park with some entertainment on site, parade down Main Street to Delhi Park, where we’d have music performances, a shadow puppetry play and light installations to explore. Unfortunately, the weather was ridiculously cold and windy, so we decided to move the festival indoors. We’d had the foresight to rent the charming Picton Town Hall for just such a purpose.

Photo by Phil Norton

We spent the afternoon decorating and setting up the hall. People started arriving early, and they just kept pouring through the doors. Young and old carried lanterns that they’d made at our workshops or at home, ranging from simple to sophisticated, but everyone beamed with the pride of showing off what they’d made with their own two hands.

Kate MacNaughton, photo by Ramesh Pooran

Photo by Kelly Roblin

Then the entertainment began. There was a belly-dancer…

Teresa Burton, photo by Ramesh Pooran

And there was music…

Melissa Larkin and D'Ari Pouyat, photo by Sam Serrano

The wind let up a bit and there was an impromptu and wildly joyful parade around the block.

Photo by Sam Serrano

Photo by Phil Norton

There were drummers...

Photo by Phil Norton

Milé walked around on stilts (apparently “For the glory of Picton!”)…

Milé Murtanovski, photo by Norman Markland

Then we performed the shadow play that I’d written for the occasion, The Monster of Lake on the Mountain.

There was a black light tent…

Photo by Phil Norton

A “Make a Wish” station…

There was more music, and a giant puppet...

Chris Bonham-Carter, photo by Phil Norton

And finally, a little sing-along…

All in all, it made for a most memorable evening in our small town.

Photo by Phil Norton

Thank you to the DOZENS of volunteers who made this happen, and to the HUNDREDS of people who came out to revel in our community’s collective creativity!

Thanks to our sponsors and supporters: Books & Company, Bloomfield Centre for Creativity, County of Prince Edward Public Libraries, Kelly’s Shop, Picton Home Hardware, Picton Recreation Committee, Royal Canadian Legion Branch #78 and Spark Box Studio.

Krista Dalby and Susanne Larner

*through plotting and planning this festival, Susanne and I became good friends, and last November, we even wound up traveling to Ghana together! But that's another story...