Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Lantern Making in Hoi An

Today we had an amazing adventure in town! We wandered around the streets and stalls, saw a park with Tet decorations, and ended with a cool workshop that blended culture and art. 

At first, we were just walking down a street, but then we stopped to check out a store selling cute little dishes. We looked around, and while Alex took some last minute pictures, my mom and I went down an alley. At the end of the narrow alley was a shop that also offered lantern making classes. When we asked about the classes, the woman working there told us how they were made, showed us the different shapes and sizes, and gave us the price. We decided to take a lantern making class from her.



Then, she said she was glad we wanted to learn from her, she would teach us this grandfather craft but with her sister and she asked us to follow her. We walked about 3 minutes away to a temple. Inside the temple, she took us to a small room where her sister did the workshops. 

We sat down and looked through a pile of fabrics for our lanterns. Alex chose a rainbow one with butterflies, and I picked a blue fabric with birds and flowers. The woman came back and gave us each a bamboo frame for our lanterns, then she told us what to do first. It looked pretty easy but you had to get just the right amount of glue, which was tricky! We spread glue along 3 narrow bamboo pieces, then stretched the fabric across the 3 strips. We repeated this twice, then trimmed the edges. Half of our lantern was covered. Then we did the same thing to the remaining sides, and cut the edges of that too. 

When the fabric was all secure, we added strips of cloth to the top and bottom to seal the ends of the rest in, and added a tassel at the bottom. Our lanterns were finished! They both looked very pretty, if I do says so myself. (and I do) :) 


I was glad to learn a little bit more about the creation process. We have seen lanterns EVERYWHERE, but I thought they were a bit harder than that. Lanterns of all colours and shapes are used as decorations for Tet, so there are tons out right now, and it has been a big part of the sightseeing. I'm so glad we got to do this workshop! 




3 comments:

  1. The lanterns you have made are so pretty and you will treasure them for years to come as a memory of your time in Hoi An. Can't wait to admire them.....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alright my lantern experts, can you teach us???? They look beautiful and will be wonderful in your bedrooms!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the artistic and creative creations!

    ReplyDelete

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