Star Wars BB-8 Paper Lantern

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We are slowing working on changing our toy room into a 2nd kid bedroom with a Star Wars theme. We already own lots of posters, bedding, and accessories but I want to add a few fun new details to finish it off. My first project is a BB-8 Paper Lantern to hang above the bed.

This project seemed inevitable after our BB-8 costume using the same materials. This project is actually simpler than the costume because I was able to just use wire bracket that came with the paper lantern to expand them.

Plus when I made the costume I had to sort of “wing” the patterns on BB-8 based on images from the Sphero BB-8 toy. Luckily BB-8 projects are quite popular now and I found a baker who shared the templates she created to make an incredible BB-8 cake!

BB-8 Paper Lantern Materials

• 10″ white paper lantern (I found mine in the Target dollar section)
• 18″ white paper lantern
• orange duct tape
• silver duct tape
• black duct tape
• BB-8 pattern templates
• parchment paper

Now you will need to enlarge the patterns to make them appropriately sized for your paper lanterns. If you are making a smaller BB-8 paper lantern then your patterns will not need to be as big.

Trace each pattern that you want to use onto parchment paper. This step will be repeated multiple times throughout the project.

Once you’ve traced the pattern, turn it over and cover the back of the pattern with duct tape. Turn it back over and cut out your duct tape design. Parchment paper is basically a duct tape miracle. With the duct tape attached to parchment paper, you can easily cut through it without gumming up the scissors. When you’re ready to use the tape, the parchment paper peels off easily.

To keep the lantern from moving around much, place it on a kitchen chair and push the chair in until the lantern sits snugly against the edge of the table. It’s best to figure out the placement of the pattern before removing the parchment paper backing.

Once you’ve added 4 orange and silver patterns around the sides of the BB-8, don’t forget to add an orange pattern on top.

I didn’t have any templates for the BB-8 head. It’s mostly just strips of orange and silver duct tape with a couple of black circles.

You can see a little bit of the BB-8 head creation (and the rest of the paper lantern), in my video below. Keep in mind I didn’t show every step and did speed up most of the video so it wouldn’t be 2 hours long. It should give you enough of a feel for how to make a BB-8 paper lantern on your own.

I hung BB-8 up in the bedroom and might add a lantern cord to turn it into a BB-8 light. It also makes a great decoration for a Star Wars themed party. You could even make a smaller version, just keep in mind the scale difference between the BB-8 body and head.