Precautions: This project uses flammable materials. Children should only work on the project in the presence of an adult. Don't run chinese lantern in places where fire may start. It is best to launch the balls over a large surface of water.
Collect all the materials to assemble the sky lantern. To assemble it yourself you will need large sheets wrapping paper or waxed rice paper. The paper should be fairly light. Regular printer paper and most paper bags are too heavy for heated air to lift. You will need tape to glue the sheets together.
For the fire you will need a small sponge, which will be placed in alcohol (except for a sponge, you can use any suitable material, which can absorb alcohol and will be quite light). For the project I used a regular sponge and 91% isopropyl alcohol. The sponge will be connected to the paper ball with a light wire. The easiest way to light a fire is with a grill lighter. If you are not launching an air lantern alone, then one person can hold it, and the second will light the sponge. If you are only firing one, place it on the ground and light the sponge while holding the top paper part suspended.
Place the sheets of paper one next to the other. The long sides of the sheets should lie one to the other. Lay the sheets overlapping so that they can be joined with tape. About a centimeter will be enough. Use tape to connect the sheets. The tape must be glued along the entire length of the paper so that the heated air does not escape from the ball. The four pieces of paper should become one large piece.
Take one short piece of paper and connect it to the other short end. Secure them with tape so that the paper becomes shaped like a hollow cylinder. Remember that there should be no gaps or gaps in the connections.
Now you need to attach a top to the cylinder to hold the hot air inside. You can use another sheet of paper for this. Fold the cylinder along the joints until it looks more like a box. Place one end of it on the floor and the other end facing you. Take a piece of paper and place the short end 10cm below the top of the cylinder. Next, wrap the long side over the top, then it will be secured with tape. Run a strip of tape along the entire length of the sheet and secure it on one side. Rotate the structure and secure the opposite part of the sheet.
Rotate and secure each side of the roof. It should now only have one side open. Check again that there are no gaps in the connections.
Kitchen sponge needs to be cut to get more small piece so that it will fit and not weigh too much when soaked in alcohol. About 3 cm will be enough.
The sponge will be connected by two pieces of wire. The length of the wire should be approximately 3 cm longer than the width.
The wire must be passed through the sponge and placed in such a way that the side with the largest area faces the top of the structure. Make sure that there are pieces of wire equal in length on each side.
Tape the ends of the wire to the sides finished design. The sponge should be in the center of its open part so that the paper does not start to burn.
Soak the washcloth in alcohol or lighter mixture without touching the paper parts. This is easiest to do if you are not preparing the flashlight for launch alone. One person can hold and the other dab the sponge.
To make an air Chinese lantern you will need:
- 1 wide tape;
- 1 square of cardboard 30x30 or 40x40 cm;
- 1 pack of thin colored garbage bags with a volume of 120 l;
- 1 bottle of fire starter or medical alcohol;
- 1 roll of tracing paper;
- ruler, tape measure or measuring tape for measurements;
- thin wire;
- 1 pack of cotton wool.
Having prepared all the above materials, you can begin assembling the flying flashlight. It is quite simple - a wick and an outer shell are attached to a wire frame.
First, take a garbage bag, open it, and then measure the diameter. Make a continuation of the bag from tracing paper and attach it to it with tape. After this, cut strips 1.5-2.5 cm wide from a piece of cardboard. Attach the strips from the outside to the tracing paper using tape.
Make a wire frame for the Chinese lantern. To do this, twist a circle out of wire and additionally attach 2 pieces of wire to it crosswise. This way you will be able to give rigidity to your structure and have somewhere to attach the wick.
On the wire in the middle of the frame, secure a ball of cotton wool pre-soaked in fire starter fluid or medical alcohol. It is advisable to prepare several wicks at once, and also check how well they ignite and what the size of the flame is. Thanks to this, you can choose the perfect wick for your product.
Place a bag of tracing paper on the frame and launch a Chinese lantern. If the resulting design seems small to you, you can make it larger. To do this, simply glue several garbage bags together, take large quantity cardboard, tracing paper and other materials.
It is allowed to launch flying lanterns only in open areas, away from parking lots, tall buildings, forests and dry meadows. And most importantly, if the wind becomes strong and gusty, reschedule the launch of the flashlights to another time.
Light the wick and, with the help of an assistant - a friend or - straighten the dome so that it does not come into contact with the flame. Then carefully lower the Chinese lantern to the ground, holding it by the frame. This is necessary for faster heating of the air inside the structure.
After about one minute, raise the flashlight to chest level. As soon as it starts to pull upward, release it. Do this slowly, lightly holding the product by the rim. And then all you have to do is enjoy the stunningly beautiful flight of the Chinese lantern in the night sky.
The sky lantern first appeared in the third century and served as a signal of war.
Over time, its use as a cry for hostilities was replaced by a completely peaceful signal. Sky lanterns are actively used at numerous festivals, significant events, and minor celebrations. In our country, lanterns have become particularly popular; lanterns with love messages are especially in demand.
A sky lantern is quite easy to make yourself; the main thing is to follow safety rules to prevent fires.
We will need:
- papyrus paper
- glue
- paints (if you will color the flashlight or write messages)
— fire retardant treatment
- thin wire
- bamboo hoop or balsa wood
- scissors
- wire cutters
- wax
- material for wax impregnation (paper towel)
-kraft paper 
The first thing to do is soak the papyrus paper with wax. 
Dilute the paper in this way and spray the fire retardant until completely saturated. To be sure that enough has been applied, try burning a small piece of paper.
For one sky lantern we will need four such wedges (1 square = 1 centimeter). 
Make yourself a pattern in the form of half a wedge of a lantern from thick paper. Fold the papyrus paper in half, cut out about 1 centimeter to allow for gluing. 
Attention: To avoid unpleasant consequences, cover the work surface with transparent polyethylene. If the flashlight is intended for a message of love or congratulations, then write all the inscriptions on it after gluing, when it is still folded. 
Now place the weights on the glued areas and let the flashlight dry for 3-4 hours. 
You can make a bamboo hoop yourself by fastening several thin sticks together, or you can buy a ready-made one.
Now let's soak the paper towels with wax. 
Attention: You need to melt paraffin over low heat in a water bath, as it is very flammable.
Apply melted wax to a paper towel and cut into small pieces. To make the burner more consistent with the original Chinese lantern, you can cut out five rectangles from kraft paper and layer them between a soaked paper towel. Fasten the burner with wire like this, leaving enough wire at the ends. 
Now we just have to put all the elements together.
We wrap the burner to the hoop, securing the ends of the wire on four sides, and then glue the hoop to the flashlight. 
The lantern is ready.
Attention: Launch the flashlight away from houses in calm weather. 
- 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...
I'll come back to it again at the end, but for now highly recommend
So what do we need:
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 bag and find the extreme points of the 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.
By the way, it's freezing outside now. This means that the flashlight will fly perfectly, because the large temperature difference inside the package and outside gives greater lift. 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.
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
DIY 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.
Flying lanterns float across the night sky: very interesting, charming, romantic. An open fire heats the air in them according to the same principle as in balloons. First launched in China over 2,000 years ago, the first flying lanterns were constructed from bamboo rims with paper parts attached to them, creating the shape of a bag or cube. In the lower, open part, a fire source was fixed (most often a burning candle or a rag soaked in oil) and the hot atmosphere filled the lantern. As the flashlight cooled, it calmly descended back to the ground.
These handmade “night birds” still excite the imagination, appearing in paintings, books, movies and cartoons. Modern flying lanterns are very similar to their predecessors, only now they are safer thanks to the addition of a fire-resistant substance applied to the paper. And unlike in years past, many are writing messages or wishes on their lanterns before sending them off into the sky.
You will need:
— packaging of tissue (cosmetic, thin wrapping) paper of any color;
- any product that greatly increases the fire resistance of paper (for example, MP FR);
- clothesline;
- clothespins;
- glue;
— kraft paper;
- bamboo, 2.5 cm in diameter, approximately 122 cm in length;
- knife;
- sandpaper;
- wood glue;
- copper wire;
- thin staples;
- a square of thin cardboard, side - 5 cm;
- cotton ball;
— ethyl alcohol (from 70%);
- aluminium foil;
- duct tape.
1. Pin 4 sheets of tissue paper onto a clothesline and spray them with flame retardant, avoiding the very corners where the sheets are caught by clothespins. Let the paper dry completely.
2. Adhere each sheet of treated tissue/thin wrapping paper to a sheet of untreated tissue paper, overlapping lengthwise and using a thin, even layer of adhesive.
3. On craft paper, draw an image representing the top half of the mitten. The finished lantern will look like a hot air balloon made up of 4 pieces combined: make 4 of these “half-mittens” from kraft paper and tape them together. So that the lower flat edges of the half-mittens look down, and only they form together the open part of the flashlight: you will get a layout of your flashlight and will be able to adjust it where necessary. When you are completely satisfied with the design, remove sticky tape.
4. Using the kraft paper model as a reference, cut out the desired shape from the tissue paper, creating 4 slightly curved pieces with one straight edge. Glue the elements of the flashlight together, leaving, as in the point with the layout, only the edge at the bottom where the 4 parts have a straight edge is open: this is the lower part of the flashlight, where we will insert the burning element. Naturally, the sprayed side of each sheet of tissue paper should go inside the lantern.
5. Make a bamboo ring. Split the bamboo stick into thin strips by very carefully and slowly moving the knife down the length of the pole. Test the strips for flexibility by gently bending them with both hands. If you find one that is flexible enough, sand it sandpaper until completely smooth. Then make a rim from the finished strip and fix it at the joint with glue.
6. Place a suitable-sized letter “X” made of copper wire into the circle of the base of the flashlight (into a bamboo ring), using thin staples to secure everything in place. Cover a cardboard square with foil and secure it in the center of the "X" with tape, staples, or glue.
7. Make a cup out of foil: large enough to hold the cotton ball, but not allow it to fall out. Glue the cup to the center of the stand.
8. Attach the previously made part of the lantern from the bottom (open part) to the stand circle using adhesive tape and remember: it works like a balloon, so the cup with foil should fit inside.
9. Carry a flashlight outside in the evening. Soak a cotton ball in ethyl alcohol(70% and above) and place the damp cotton wool in a foil bowl. Light the ball, carefully secure the bottom of the flashlight and hold the flashlight in your hands, ensuring the accumulation inside warm air. When the sides become hot and you begin to feel the flashlight slipping out of your palms, release it.
Additions and warnings:
— Garden pegs or poles can become good source bamboo;
— Coping with a flying flashlight is easier with a couple;
— When you develop the form hot air balloon, Make sure that top part certainly larger, more voluminous than the lower one;
— Alternative view"fuel" can be made by immersion toilet paper into melted wax;
— A hoop made of copper wire can be attached to the top of the flashlight - it will provide the latter better shape;
— Never launch such lanterns on very windy days - there is a great risk of fire;
— When it rains, it’s simply not possible to run such a lantern;
- Remember that your flying flashlight is a potential fire hazard and you will be responsible for any damage it may cause.
