A flying sky lantern is an amazingly beautiful ball. By launching it, you can make a wish, or you can let go of all troubles and misfortunes forever. You can, or you can try to do it yourself.
Anyone can make a sky lantern with their own hands.
To do this you will need:
1. Garbage bag 120 l. As thin as possible. And preferably not black.
2. Stationery tracing paper
3. Glue
4. Wire
5. Cotton wool
6. Paraffin
Let's answer the question: How to make a sky lantern.
Let's unwrap the garbage bag. We need to inner side stick a piece of paper onto the package. This way our dome will not melt or burn. The tracing paper should be glued in such a way that it overlaps, that is, the seam is 1 cm wide. We make a ring from the wire, with a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the bag and glue it to the base of the bag with glue. Through the center of the ring, perpendicular to each other, we make a cross from wire, to which we will attach the burner. To make a burner, take cotton wool and cover it with paraffin. We attach the burner with wire to the center of the ring. The flying lantern is ready!
You can put an inscription on the sky lantern.
Please read before starting
Instructions for launching a Chinese sky lantern:
1. Take the sky lantern and burner out of the package.
2. Attach the burner to the wire frame of the flashlight in the center by inserting the wire into the hole in the center of the burner and secure it by straightening the ends of the wire.
3. Carefully straighten the flashlight.
4. If the air lantern is more than one meter high, you can ask a friend for help. Ask a friend to hold the flashlight with both hands while you light the burner.
5. Press the flashlight to the ground, holding it by the wire rim. So that it fills with hot air faster. This will take from 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
6. As soon as you feel the Chinese sky lantern take off, let it go.
7. Enjoy the beautiful view and make a wish!
Restrictions:
2. Make sure there is no tall trees and high-rise buildings in the direction of the wind.
3. Don't let children launch the flying lantern by themselves.
4. Keep sky lanterns out of the reach of children.
5. In case of mass launch of sky lanterns, obtain permission from the competent authority.
6. Do not launch Chinese lanterns within a radius of 20 km from national airports and 50 km from international airports.
7. Never launch a flying flashlight near flammable or explosive objects (gas stations, dry meadows or, in the immediate vicinity of wooden houses and so on.).
Paper lanterns in the night sky are an attribute of many Asian holidays that have also taken root in Western culture.
To make such a sky lantern yourself, you will need rice or oil paper or tracing paper, a sheet of wrapping paper for preparing templates, a bamboo rod, a little steel wire medium thickness, wax (paraffin) and a piece of fabric.
Dome
Oiled paper is best for the dome - it is strong enough and easy to work with. The details are cut out as follows:
Using the template, outline and cut out several of these “petals” from oiled paper (the more there are, the wider the dome will be). Secure their side edges with non-flammable glue. When the glue has dried, glue the edge of the last piece to the edge of the first to form a closed circle, and also glue the pointed ends of all the pieces together, forming a dome. Make sure there are no gaps in the gluing areas, otherwise the dome will leak hot air outside and the flashlight will not be able to take off.
Wick
While the main structure is drying, work on the wick for the flashlight.
Dome rim
All that remains is to secure the rim to the dome and tie wax-soaked fabric to it.
1. Cut the bamboo rod lengthwise into strips 4-5mm wide. 
2. Tie 3 or 4 pieces into a closed circle by overlapping their ends and wrapping them with fireproof tape or tape. The diameter of the circle should match the diameter of the dome that you glued earlier. 
Connecting parts
The glue must be completely dry before you fire up the flashlight.
Launch
Holding the flashlight by the rim, straighten the dome and light the wick. After a few seconds, when the flame burns properly, the hot air will begin to pull the dome up, and the rim can be released from your hands. Don't forget to make a wish!
Note
- Do not use flashlights when strong wind, near power lines, directly above people's heads, in wooded or densely built-up areas, and also closer than 5 km from the airport.
- Keep a bucket of water or sand handy in case the flashlight lights up when starting.
How to launch sky lanterns correctly: instructions for use
To launch a sky lantern without any problems, it is best to get out on open space- to the stadium, in the field. This way you can avoid “collisions” with poles and power lines, billboards, trees and buildings.
The most spectacular launch of lanterns is achieved in calm or low wind weather (4-6 m/s), cloudless sky V dark time days. You will get an indescribable feeling when your flashlight begins to rise higher and higher, straight to the stars.
It must be remembered that they are not allowed to be launched near airports, flammable liquids or flammable gases.
The minimum distance from the airport is 15 km.
To launch the sky lantern you made, follow these steps:
- Holding the hoop at the base of the structure with one hand, carefully straighten the paper part of the lantern with the other hand - it should fill with air from the inside and become like a dome.
- Attach fuel cell wire to the hoop.
- Light the burner using matches or a lighter. Make sure that the flame does not burn the walls of the structure.
- Place the burning flashlight on the ground and let the air inside it heat up. On average, this will take 2-3 minutes in the warm season and 7-10 minutes in the cold season. Hold the flashlight with your hands.
- When it is ready to take off, you will feel a slight pressure on your palm. Release the flashlight.
- If it is not possible to place it on the ground, hold it vertically in your hands for the required time. Then release.
- Enjoy the mesmerizing beauty, smile wider and don’t forget to make a wish!
On average, in favorable weather, a sky lantern flies for about 10 minutes and is capable of rising to a height of up to 300 m. After the fuel burns out, it will begin to smoothly descend towards the ground until it lands.
- a very beautiful and breathtaking sight, so once again, having come across an offer to buy flying chinese lanterns, somehow I suddenly remembered that you can quite simply make them yourself. It’s funny, but for some reason it didn’t occur to me to look for instructions on the Internet. However, I once read a similar instruction, I even remember trying to repeat it, but it didn’t work out, because it was necessary to make neat tubes out of foil for the frame... which, of course, my impatience did not allow me to do. In addition, they were very delicate and did not tolerate large overloads, which was also not very pleasing. But now, I suddenly wanted to try again. And then I remembered that I have an excellent and convenient substitute for these inconvenient tubes...
Safety precautions
I'll come back to it again at the end, but for now highly recommend
Required materials
So what do we need:
Manufacturing
Using tape, glue two sticks together crosswise.
Next, wrap the sticks in the center with foil. This must be done to protect against fire. Otherwise, your flashlight won’t even have time to take off. If you want, you can do it more beautifully than in the photo, but to be honest, the flashlight is actually almost disposable. Either it will burn up in the air, or it will fly so far that you will lose any desire to go looking for it.
We straighten the package and find extreme points neck.
We attach the frame to the edges of the neck with small pieces of tape. You don’t need a lot of tape, because the weight of the frame, even with cotton wool and foil, is very small. The photo shows a piece of cotton wool wrapped in a crosshair. 
Assembled flashlight
I checked - I have making a flying lantern it took about 4 minutes. Including photographing the process.
Launch!
By the way, it's freezing outside now. This means that the flashlight will fly perfectly, because the large difference in temperature inside the package and outside gives greater lifting force. However, I tested a similar flashlight at room temperature- and he flew quite well. True, I still don’t recommend running it in an apartment... it quickly stuck into my ceiling - it immediately flared up, it’s good that I kept a mug of water with me
Hmm... I think I got distracted. We take with us alcohol (you can use it in a syringe - it will be convenient to “refuel” our flashlights), a lighter, otherwise you’ll have a hard time with matches... and besides, for matches you need two hands, and we also have ours flying lantern hold. However, you can take helpers with you: friends, children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren... wife (or husband). In general, I got distracted again.
Unfold the dome of the flashlight, moisten the cotton wool with alcohol (don’t overdo it... I didn’t really check, but it looks like half a cube should be enough). Trying not to melt the bag, set fire to the cotton wool and hold the flashlight until you feel something begin to tear upward. This will happen in a couple of seconds. You let go and admire how the flying lantern you made with your own hands rises higher and higher.
Safety precautions (repeat)
Since you are essentially launching an open flame source into flight, do not do this near buildings, power lines, gas stations and other flammable objects. If you are not sure that the flashlight will not set anything on fire, it is better to refuse launching.
The best thing is to fill a Chinese lantern with a small amount of fuel (alcohol) so that it flies for a short time. At the same time, the most the right decision will - watch the flashlight until you are sure that the flame inside has gone out. In addition - there is also the issue of cleanliness and order - an extinguished flashlight after it falls is an unsightly piece of garbage. Therefore, after all, use less fuel so that it doesn’t fly far
Afterword
Do-it-yourself flying flashlight in five minutes- this is quite real. Yes, it will not be as beautiful as the store-bought one. And probably smaller in size. But it will be made by your own hands.
Sometimes you want to give your loved one a gift that would make their heart skip a beat. Such gifts are especially appropriate for outstanding events in a person’s life, such as a wedding, anniversary, or just a romantic date. It’s good at such moments to launch sky lanterns into the sky, that’s true beautiful and romantic when a burning heart rises up. You can make such lanterns with your own hands, it is not so difficult, but the work requires special care and precision, since we are dealing with fire.
Such flashlights have recently begun to replace fireworks, because the latter are much more expensive, and the opportunity to observe them lasts a few seconds, while sky lanterns can be observed for up to 30 minutes. Their flight altitude reaches 200-300 meters, with a burning duration of 15-20 minutes of the burner, which heats the air inside the flashlight. Thanks to this hot air, they fly, then, when the burner goes out, the air gradually cools down, and the lanterns fall to the ground.
Today we will tell you how make such a flashlight with your own hands. First you need to decide on the shape, it can be different: star, heart, car, flower and other shapes. We will make the simplest one in the shape of a dome.
To work for us you will need a thin garbage bag light color capacity 120 l, tracing paper according to the size of the package, it is sold in the stationery department, wire that holds its shape, strip thick fabric 4x50 cm in size, liquid fuel used to light a fire, paraffin or wax, glue or tape, fire retardant impregnation for paper.
Even before work starts you need to soak the tracing paper with fire retardant, this is necessary to prevent the tracing paper from sunbathing and also the fire retardant has a water-repellent effect, which will not allow it to absorb excess moisture, thereby preventing our structure from being made heavy. In the event of a strong flame from the burner, even if the fire touches such tracing paper, it will simply burn a small hole in it, but there will be no fire. We unfold the garbage bag and glue the tracing paper inside it using glue or double sided tape. The result is a dome, which is protected from fire inside and from rain outside.
Further twist a ring out of wire the diameter is slightly smaller than the diameter of the package and from the next two pieces we make a cross connection. We fix the burner in the center of this core and connect everything to the ring. Then we attach the entire frame to the finished dome.
To obtain a burner, we impregnate the fabric with fuel and paraffin, and fold the fabric itself into rectangular shape 4x2.5 cm in size. Before attaching the burner to our dome, we need to carry out small tests. To do this, we will have to make several more similar burners, but don’t rush to make them at the same time. We light our burner and look at the height of the flame, while noticing the burning time of the burner. If the field is very high, it is worth removing several layers of fabric; if it is low, add more. The same applies to the burning time - if the burner burns too low, it will not have time to warm up the air in the dome. Correct the burner and light it again, if everything turned out well and the burning time suits us, we make another one exactly the same and attach it to the center of the metal core in the frame. You should not neglect these tests, since your safety and the flight altitude of the flashlight depend on them.
Want to surprise your girlfriend, make a Chinese lantern together and launch it into the night sky, The girl will definitely appreciate this romance and remember it for a long time. sky lattern You can make it for your holiday, and write your names on the lantern. Chinese lanterns - fun not only for lovers, it’s fun to launch them with the whole family together with the children, competing to see whose flashlight will fly higher and further. Following the instructions from, you can easily do DIY Chinese sky lantern.
A little history.
First chinese lantern was invented about two thousand years ago in China during the era of the Three Kingdoms by the famous cunning commander Zhuge Liang. Chinese lanterns served as a means of exchanging information on the battlefield; they were then called heavenly candles. It is known that the lantern was made from rice paper, stretched on a bamboo frame. In the middle of the lantern there was a lit candle; it emitted hot air, due to which the lantern rose into the air. And the form Chinese lantern taken from a hat worn by Zhuge Liang. Later, during the Yuan Dynasty, Chinese lanterns became simply a symbol of hope and good wishes and were used in religious rituals. On paper lanterns they wrote wishes and hung them outside their house.
How to make a Chinese lantern with your own hands.
The shape of a Chinese lantern depends entirely on your imagination, the material also, the main thing is that it is very easy to lift into the skies. And the fuel for the flashlight is ordinary medical alcohol, you can use dry alcohol, dry fuel, acetone or solvent. Wire is used for the frame. Burner with cotton wool soaked in alcohol or a tablet of dry fuel.
So, let's get started, let's divide our work into three stages: making the dome, frame and burner.
How to make a dome for a Chinese lantern.
For the flashlight dome we will need the cheapest and thinnest plastic bag for garbage, volume 80 l. or more. You don’t have to take a gloomy black bag; choose a cheerful blue or lilac. So, as you can see, it’s very simple, you didn’t have to do anything, and the sky lantern dome is ready.
Making the frame.
Let's move on to the second stage and make a wire frame for the Chinese lantern. For this we need thin wire with a cross section of 0.5 - 1 mm. We make a ring of wire, the diameter should correspond to the lower edge of our dome. We attach two wires crosswise. And also, instead of wire, you can use juice tubes for a circle or square for the frame, inserting them one into another or wrapping them with tape, and gluing them to the dome, you will get a light frame.
Burner.
And finally, the third and final stage of work is the manufacture of the burner. You can take a light one metal container from under the candles, tablets.
To make a burner, we need the most ordinary baking foil; you can use foil from a chocolate bar. We make a cup from foil, small size and strengthen it on the crosspiece of the frame. Then the finished frame with a burner is taped to the bottom edge of the dome.
As fuel for an aerial lantern, you can use a piece of dry fuel or cotton wool soaked in alcohol. You can soak a piece of fabric with liquid fuel and paraffin and roll it up; in this case, it is better to make two or three such burners. Light one before starting, see how long it will burn and the height of the flame; if the flame is high, trim the spare fabric burner, and if it burns out quickly, add fabric. The flight altitude of the flashlight depends on a properly made burner.
That's it, quick and easy - the Chinese sky lantern is ready! You can go launch it.
How to launch a Chinese sky lantern.
First, decide on a place to launch the Chinese sky lantern. When you launch a sky lantern, it is better to choose some wasteland as a launch site, preferably without trees, to avoid fire, and the lantern does not get tangled in branches when launching, and the weather should not be windy.
Straighten the flashlight and fill it with air (take the flashlight by the lower part, the frame and move your hands up and immediately down, as if you were covering something with a cap, our flashlight acts as a cap). Hold the flashlight in a vertical position, and immediately put fuel or a piece of cotton wool soaked in alcohol into the burner and light it. Be sure to make sure that the canopy of the air lantern is straightened so that you do not set it on fire or melt it! Now you can place the lantern on the ground, holding it from below until the air inside the lantern warms up. When the sky lantern is ready to fly, you will see that it will seem to be trying to take off on its own. You can let go!
When your Chinese sky lantern takes off, the joy you will feel when you launch it into the sky will outshine all the difficulty in making it! When launching a sky lantern, don't forget to make a wish.
The flashlight did not take off, what to do:
It is necessary to lighten the design of the lantern, but in order not to lose rigidity, perhaps just a few extra grams. There should be a thin wire in the frame, a thin bag for the canopy, a large volume of the canopy, the ratio of volume and lifting force plays a big role here. Try to lighten the burner. In the latter case, try to remove the frame completely, strengthen only the cross with the burner on the dome.
