The Chinese Lanterns made from "ang-pows" (or hongbao), red packets given during the Chinese Lunar New Year started several years back. Each year as the "ang-pows" designs get more creative,so do the designs of the lanterns.  I have not seen such Chinese lanterns designs made before except in Malaysia and Singapore and hence I like to share them with anyone interested. I do not know who started them nor who created them as they seem to appear all at the same time. In fact, my own attempt at creating them was stopped when I find "my designs" being displayed, although I had not even sketch them out yet. I suppose they all appeared at the same time to different creative people.  I am presenting a picture gallery of the kinds of Chinese Lanterns possible. I made most of them myself. These lanterns are the basic ones. There are lanterns with much more complicated designs. Not all the pictures I took came out well as I under estimated the reflective qualities of the green cutting board I used for other crafts.

Here are some pictures ofwhat could be made.....

Singapore Science Centre held a hong bao sculpture contest contest during the Chinese New Year period of 2000. I visited the exhibition where the entries were displayed later and was overwhelmed. I took over 100 photographs until my camera ran out of battery.

Let's start with these three pictures of a Chinese Dragon. This is not an entry but one done by a professional.

The ones shown below are among those that interest me.

To try constructing some Chinese Lanterns from "ang-pows", you must first get "ang-pows" or its equivalent. I have tried using other kinds of paper which are very colourful and approximate the size and shape.

I am not enclosing the instructions for most of them as I do not have them. I was able to make most of them just by seeing them once. For some, the instructions are in Chinese or insufficiently clear for a begineer to attempt. For the more complicated design, I just did a rough sketch. Through trial and error, I was able to construct most of them from pictures, memory or sketches. I believe most people skilled in handicraft should have no problem after just seeing the pictures I have here.

Please note that I do not keep stock of these lanterns and do not sell them. I make them for fun and only just before the Chinese New Year as gifts. Please do not ask me for instructions on how to make them as most of them are not created by me, I just made them.

Year 2002

I make these lanterns every year usually to give away as New Year gifts. In the past, taking photos of them are difficult as lots of preparations are required and sufficient lanterns must be made for the effort of taking photos of them to be worthwhile but with a digital camera, this has become easier.

This year I made the following:
 

Year 2003

Did not have time to try out many patterns this year mainly because I was practising to represent my company in chess. In addition, lanterns that was made last year was collected by my mother in mid-2002 and was given out as presents in January 2003 just before the Chinese New Year. Problem is, most of them wanted them in pairs!

So this year, I made them in pairs. This means less time for different designs.

Usually I do not make anything except lanterns. I avoid making animals out of ang-pows. This year, there are at least two designs for making baskets out of ang-pows and I decide to break from my usual and make them. This is because my wife makes lots of kumquats from some colourful packing material and the baskets would just come in handy.

This is what I made this year:
 

Year 2004

This year Chinese New Year on 22 Jan came too close to Christmas and New Year. As a result, I had to wait till after New Year before sales for Chinese New Year really began. Work in the office was rather heavy too and I had to bring work home to do over the weekend. This resulted in very little time over the weekend to indulged in my annual lantern-making. I had started early during Christmas holidays but unfortunately, materials for lantern making and new designs were not out yet. I ended up making what I had made in previous years (in pairs) to get the mood going. I made plenty of fishes from left over hongbaos.


Below are the new ones I have made.


 

Year 2005

Unable to make any this year due to work.

You can try constructing the gold fish, just click on the picture.
 

Please do not ask me for instructions as this would cause me to violate copyrights regulations.

I like to take this opportunity to stress yet again that I did not design most of these lanterns. I use words like "I made.." not "I create.." and the paragraph above state clearly I had stopped designing, so I am making designs from other people more creative than me and taking pictures of the completed product. I am also not making profit as I do not sell these lanterns.

==> CHINESE LANTERNS HANDICRAFT FOR KIDS
 

Interesting Links

• Chinese New Year e-cards
• Mathematics of the Chinese Calendar

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