Y’all say Hi to Rae, check out her awesome Rustic DIY Mason Jar Wall Lanterns (I’ve seen them live and in-person in her house – they’re fantastic!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I met Rachel at Blog Elevated last year – turns out we live in the same city, not ten minutes from each other. I definitely don’t have her recipe prowess, but I do like to do home decor related DIY projects (which I usually feature over on my blog – hickcountry.com).
My house is pretty rustic themed – and given that Rachel is definitely a southern girl, I asked if she thought her readers would be interested in my latest project – some DIY mason jar wall lantern that I made from mason jars. And here we are, LOL, so let’s get to it!
What you’ll need
- Planks of wood (or large pallet boards) cut to leave a bit of room above the hook and a bit of room below where the mason jar will hang once completed. Based on the size of the mason jars I was using, my wood planks were 5 1/2″ x 16″ in size)
- 4″ plant hanger hooks (I’m pretty specific about using brushed bronze whenever possible, so I bought these hooks from Amazon)
- Wood stain and stain applicator (the stain I used was Dark Walnut from Minwax)
- A candle for each lantern – the color choice will be based on your decor – I chose a pastel green
- Stones to place under the candles in each lantern – I used these small mixed river rock stones that I got from Hobby Lobby
- Two mason jars – the size is up to you (I used 32 ounce jars)
- An awl or nail punch tool
- Heavy duty twine (available at any craft store)
- A package of Ook smalltooth steel hangers that can hold up to 20 pounds that I got from Home Depot (see picture later below)
Prepping the wood
As I mentioned, I was going for a rustic wood, so the first step was to distress the two planks that I was using. There are several ways to do this – I simply use a broken garden shovel, an awl (to create wormholes) and an old door handle – hitting the wood randomly with each until you get a “beat up” effect.
(Please keep in mind that I have no where near the photography talent that Rachel does.)
I then stained the wood with the Dark Walnut stain and set it out to dry overnight.
Mounting the hardware
It’s actually important that you do this step before creating the lanterns to ensure that they hang where you want them to when completed. I decided where I was going to place the hooks and then installed the BACK sawtooth hanger hardware first. Then I mounted the hooks to the front of the wood. I should note that the screws that came with the plant hanger were too long for the plank, so I used some smaller screws that I had laying around.
Creating the lanterns
I used the awl to put two holes in the top of each mason jar lid. You want to ensure these are directly across from each other horizontally or they’ll hang funny. Once I had the holes in place, I cut enough twine to put a double layer of twine into each hole and knot it on the underside of the mason jar lid. In fact, I did two extremely tight double knots for each hole.
The length the twine needs to be to do this will vary based on the size of the wood you’re using, where you placed the hooks and how big the mason jar is. I simple put the twine through one hold, did a tight double knot and then put the twine through the other hole and placed the twin over the hook so see what length I needed to place the mason jar where I wanted it when it hung on the hook.
PLEASE NOTE: I have no intention of ever lighting these candles, so I used twine. If you plan on ever lighting them, YOU WILL NEED TO USE SOMETHING METAL (like an accessory chain for lights or planters – see a ton of different options here) to hang the lanterns versus using twine because twine is not fire-resistant – it’s the opposite, LOL.
Once the mason jars were ready to hang, I filled each one about a fourth of the way with rocks, placed the candles on top of the rock bed and then put a few more rocks in to “bury” half of the candle.
Then I hung each plank on the wall using a nail and hung the mason jars. I was pretty pleased with the end result!
Rustic DIY Mason Jar Wall Lanterns
I hope y’all enjoyed the post!
Very cool lanterns! Thanks for sharing. I may make these with chains and decorate outdoors. 🙂
Thank you Laura. 🙂 They were super easy to make too. Yep – you can use any accessory chain (for lighting, or hanging planters) to get the same effect – you’ll just need the chain and TWO sets of pliers to work with the chains (one to hold the chain and one to pry the links open). 🙂
These will look awesome when I get them done. Now I just need to find the time to make them!
If you plan to light the candles, you’ll need to punch more holes in the top, otherwise the candle will go out. No oxygen….no fire.
Hi Sue, Thank you for your feedback. You’re absolutely correct.. IF you plan on lighting the candles, you’ll need to use different materials/twine, and you’ll need to alter the top – as stated in Rae’s tutorial. In this tutorial, Rae states that she doesn’t light her candles. Another option is to use battery operated tea lights.
Have a delicious week! – Rachel
So creative! You make it look too easy, I love it!
Thanks Gaby – when it came to this project, it WAS pretty easy. Took longer for the stain to dry than to do everything else. 😉
Can you burn a candle in your mason jar lantern or does it extinguish because of the cover?
it would extinguish due to the cover, that’s why Rae recommends using the battery operated led lights.
Have a delicious week!
Those look wonderful! Thanks for the detailed step by step instructions! I really need that. I can also see potentially trying to do something similar but add flowers instead of candles.
Lisa – ha, me too! It never fails I’ll be following a tutorial at some point and the blogger will skip an “easy” step and I’m like, “wait, HOW did you get the [whatever] on the [whatever]!!” – and the flowers alternative sounds great – if you do it, I’d love to see it when you’re done! 🙂
Love the rustic look of the lanterns!
Thanks! My entire living room has a rustic thing going for it – eventually my whole house will – I love the look – but I’m admittedly a fan of darker woods, so there’s very little “country whitewash” going on up in here. 🙂 You’d think I owned stock in dark walnut stain haha. 🙂
yeah …!! your work very inspire ,
May I share your article
I love rustic things, I ordered me later , and hooks last week, am waiting on getting woods and then stain on it, ready to go. It’s beautiful thoughts and it is creative.. It’s not hard to make one, I may make more to sell my projects if people like to have one and I can selling to make my profits. Thank for sharing..blessing you all.
Where did you go to get the wood, and what exactly do I ask for to get that type of wood? I think the rest of the project…..I can handle!! Lol
These look great! I am sharing this on Pinterest.
Thank you so much! I appreciate the pins! Have a delicious week!
hello,I love your site and articles so much,good job.
You also can watch some nail ideas at my site http://nailproexpert.com
Gametechia is an ultimate technology solution center where you will get a solution for the technology which you face regularly like as technology, computer, pc, laptop, mobile, android & console related problems and many more
I have been looking for such information from a long time and I want to make such lanterns and sell it.
I would be more happy if you share few more article on making some traditional and old time lanterns.
Please reply to share some more tips
Thanks again
I just love the way you have done! <3
How about if I add battery operated led lighting in this jar?
I really want to appreciate you for this article. It is very helpful. Thank you so much