Conventional wisdom has it that cultures through the ages have used festivals of light to inspire feelings of hope and renewal at this, the darkest time of the year. We light candles, deck our homes with colorful displays, and in this way we fight the darker feelings that sometimes accompany the shortest days of the year. There is, however, another power at work in the decorations and trimmings of the season, one which also operates at a primal level to induce feelings of joy and well-being. And that is the power of Tiny Little Things. If its tiny, mini, or wee, it just makes you feel happy. Combining lights and tininess? Sounds like we have a winner.
Ever since I discovered LED tealights, I felt they had great possibilities. They seem like the most useful thing in the world: a cool (as in not hot), battery-powered, totally portable and self-contained little light source. But the reality of them is a little disappointing. The color is a little too orange, they are dimmer than you expect them to be, etc. Perfect or not, they do have the advantage of not setting things on fire, which is crucial to this project. They also come in quite handy in a power outage.
I like this project because the basic concept is very simple, and it leaves the door wide open to discovery. Basically, you've got your tealight, and you've got a piece of paper. Make your piece of paper into a cone, and you're done. The fun part is exploring your materials. I used origami paper, some other decorative paper that is more opaque, some tape, some pins, and a flower-shaped craft punch. I added a piece of white felt underneath for my faux snow, and a bead as a topper for the tree on the left.
Here's another attempt at a tealight project. This one didn't work for me. It just didn't make use of the light. My favorite part of this was using a ring of sculpey around the LED bulb in which to squish and hold the beads. Sculpey for president!
I have this feeling that someone must have made these kind of trees before. Its just too simple. I do know for certain that some wonderful craft designers have made projects that share much of the same DNA. If you're curious, here are some links:
Origami Paper Balloons (scroll down the post a bit to see them)
Soft Trees
Winter Villages
