DIY – Upcycled Leather Lantern

It’s the return of the, oh wait, no way, you’re kidding. She didn’t just say what I think she did, did she. Yeah sorry, now the song is stuck in your head too. Ok where was I. Right.  DIY Upcycled Leather Lantern.

Yes it’s the return of the pickle jar, for pickle jar craft # 2 of the summer. It’s still Spring. Though you could have fooled me. We went from -10 to +24 degrees (that’s Celsius) and literally traded in the winter boots for flip flops overnight.

Pickle jar craft # 1 by the way, was this Upcycled Jar Vase.

DIY – Upcycled Leather Lantern

I am determined to find as many uses for pickle jars as I can. Don’t even ask.

This one started when I found some leather belts on sale at Joe Fresh.

And the way my brain works is that I don’t see a belt. I see a home decor project.

STEP 1

So you get yourself a pickle jar. Or any jar of your choice. Oh look there’s my pickle jar vase masking as a scissor holder in the background (Craft #3 perhaps?)

Measure the amount of your belt you’ll need vertically around your jar and trim to size.

Do the same thing for around it. And do this twice (you’ll need two pieces, one for the bottom and one for the top).

Make sure it is VERY snug.

STEP 2

Next up, have you met my new best friends?

They’re called Binding Posts (also called Chicago Screws because apparently one name wasn’t enough) and I am convinced I am the only person alive who did not know these existed.

DIY project changing. Love them. You can get them at any major home renovation store or online. I foresee many projects in my future using these.

TIP – if you can’t get binding screws, you can totally use metal rivets for this too.

If I was to redo this, I probably would have just gone with rivets.

So get a drill or a hammer and a nail (or my personal fav punch tool an awl).

Then drill or hammer the nail through your leather belt over a wooden cutting board using a drill bit or a nail the same size as your binding screw post diameter.

Because you’ll need the binding post (Chicago screw) to go through the entire hole. Tighten it really well with a screwdriver.

STEP 3

Place your vertical belt piece over your jar first.

Then place (read: pry) your other pieces over that one. It will be a super tight fit. That’s a good thing. You don’t want the lantern to fall down.

If you are extra cautious you can do one of several things:

1) Add two extra binding posts to attach the vertical belt part and the horizontal ones to create a “basket” of sorts for the jar.

2) Use E6000 glue and glue parts of the belt onto the jar itself. E6000 glue let’s me make things like this and the impossible possible.

3) Sew the vertical and horizontal straps together at the sides. And by sew I mean do a cross stitch style X vs trying to pry a needle through the leather straps unless you have a sewing machine and the patience of a saint. I do not.

I made the horizontal belt straps really tight and when I tried to pry off the leather handle it was impossible for me to do so.  But maybe you’re stronger than me and can rip leather like the Hulk.

So please test this out if you plan to hang it like I did.

And for the love of all that is good, as with anything to do with fire or candles, don’t leave burning candles unattended!!

Then wait several days for a decent sunset to take photos of it. And you have yourself a fancy Upcycled Leather Lantern that looks far more expensive than it really is.

Because it’s not like Photoshop could have helped you out or anything.

And if you’re still like, “What song is she talking about at the begining of this post?”, you’re probably hanging out on TikTok.