I’m thrilled to be part of this month’s “Do It Over Designers” Blog Hop, and this time the theme is lighting! For my upcycled lighting project, I transformed a recycled Downy Beads bottle into a stunning DIY mixed-media art Lantern. This unique lantern not only saves plastic from landfill but also becomes a charming centrepiece for your dinner table or shelf.

Whether you add warm white or colourful fairy lights, this lantern creates a soft ambient glow that enhances your décor. Best of all, it’s made entirely from items I had on hand—perfect for crafters who love budget-friendly DIYs.

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DIY Mixed Media Art Lantern from a Recycled Downy Bottle

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Materials Needed

• Recycled Downy Beads bottle
• Metal hoop
• Box cutter
• String beads
• Flat half beads
• Glass Drawer knob
• Craft glue, the ultimate or tacky glue
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Black acrylic paint
• Silver wax paste
• Drill
• String beads

Prepping the Lantern Bottle

Start by thoroughly cleaning your Downy bottle to remove any residue. These bottles have such a lovely shape, I’ve been saving them for the perfect upcycle—and this lantern was it!

To add the handle, I used a leftover metal hoop from a past wind spinner project. Drill a hole into each side of the bottle lid, just large enough to slide the hoop through. Cut it to size and insert it to form a sturdy handle.

Decorating the Bottle

I wanted this piece to feel like a miniature tower. For a neat design line, I used a simple trick: attach a marker to a ruler at the desired height and rotate the bottle around it to draw a straight guide.

I applied a strand of large string beads around the base and flat-backed adhesive beads around the top. For curved areas where regular glue struggled to hold, I switched to hot glue. Even if the colours don’t match, it won’t matter once everything is painted.

I used a large strand of beads to decorate the bottom edge, securing them in place with glue. For this project, I used string beads sourced from Temu in China.

To make it easier for you to recreate, I’ll do my best to find comparable products available on Amazon.

Creating the Steeple Top

To mimic a steeple, I layered a few hexagon mirrors and topped them with a glass drawer knob.

Flat beads were added around the base to hide any exposed mirror edges. If you don’t have mirrors, cardboard would work just as well. I added some more beads around the top to add more texture and detail, and use hot glue to add the steeple.

This photo shows the lantern before painting. If you want more tips and tricks for adding embellishments to mixed media assemblage art, this post has it all.

Painting the Lantern

Paint the lantern with two coats of black acrylic paint. Be sure to avoid the window areas to let the light shine through.

After drying, clean any smudges from the clear parts using a baby wipe for a neat finish.

Adding the Aged Metallic Finish

You can dry-brush silver paint for an aged look, but I prefer silver wax paste.

Gently rub it on with your fingers to highlight textures and give the lantern a vintage metallic effect.

The black base peeking through creates beautiful depth.

Installing the Lights

Choose your favourite battery-operated lights—fairy lights, tea lights, or coloured string lights. I used coloured lights for their beautiful soft glow.

To install them, I cut away half the base of the bottle using a box cutter and side cutters. I glued the first light near the bottle neck and secured the battery pack inside the remaining base. This keeps everything neatly in place.

Optional Handle Embellishment

The top still felt a bit plain, so I added simple wooden beads to the handle for contrast. I’m still undecided whether I prefer it with or without, so feel free to personalise yours.

The image below shows the lantern lit with a standard battery-operated tealight candle. While it provided a gentle glow, I felt the overall effect was a bit too plain for the look I was aiming to achieve. If you would like to see more of my unique mixed-media art projects, you can find them HERE.

Do over the designers’ blog hop

As I mentioned, this is the ‘Do It Over’ Designers Blog Hop, and there are some great projects to explore! Be sure to check out the links below for some inspiring ideas.

Unique Creations by Anita

Sum of Their Stories

Vintage Style Gal

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Pandora’s Box

Purple Hues & Me

If you’re interested in any of the items used in this project, we’d appreciate it if you used our affiliate links. Clicking these links earns us a small commission at no extra cost to you, helping us create more inspiring and exciting projects to share. We’d also love to hear your thoughts—feel free to leave a comment or share this post!