I mentioned that I’d been working on some Christmas projects after hearing that I have been given a table at a very popular craft fair in November. Here are six MDF Christmas lanterns for tealights – they are 10cm cubed and will contain a glass tealight holder. I had a fair bit of brain ache when working out what would work without bits dropping out if they weren’t connected to anything else. I obviously got it right as nothing is missing, and I was chuffed to cut each design correctly on the first go.

I used an entire can of spray paint to get a smooth white coat and eventually had to get some Dr Ph Martin’s Bleed Proof White paint to deal with the stain coming through from the lasered wood, particularly on the edges. It did the trick really well.

I think, in practical terms, some of the designs may be a little fragile in use where there is little support – such as the flourish on the v of ‘believe’. Maybe cutting from 4mm MDF rather than 3mm would give a little more strength?

And Rudolph’s red nose? Well, that is cut out, with a thin layer of Christmas Red Stickles, followed by a layer of dimensional magic clear glaze. Hopefully, it will allow a little of the candlelight through it.

Cut on a Glowforge. Some of the designs were adapted from uncredited clip art.