Sky lanterns are a popular feature in celebrations around the world.  They are particularly important in South East Asian events such as Yi Peng and Yuan Xaio where lanterns are sent skyward with good wishes written on them for the coming year.

But what goes into a sky lantern? Here at Night Sky Lanterns we’ve deconstructed one of our lanterns to show you what they are made of and the care and attention that has been given to each element.

Bamboo base ring

The base of the lantern is formed by a hoop of thin bamboo, which provides the structural foundation for the lantern and supports the pre-attached fuel cell. Being made of wood as opposed to wire means the lantern is completely biodegradable.

Flame-retardant string

String treated with flame retardant is used to position the pre-attached fuel cell below the lantern  The absence of wire means there is nothing to heat up which removes a potential fire hazard.

Fuel cell

The fuel cell for a sky lantern is made from compacted material impregnated with paraffin wax.  It is suspended beneath the paper lantern – rather like a hot-air balloon. The fuel cell ignites slowly when lit from the corners, giving you plenty of time to adjust the lantern canopy as the hot air rises and gently inflates the canopy before it floats off into the sky.  When all the wax has burnt away the lantern will begin to descend.

Flame-retardant paper for the lantern canopy

The lantern canopy itself is made from high-quality tissue paper.  It has also been treated with flame retardant which makes it resistant to heat and prevents the paper from catching alight, even if it comes into contact with a naked flame.

At Night Sky Lanterns we only use good quality of paper so that more heat is retained inside the lantern which makes the lantern fly higher and for longer.

 

Putting it all together

As you can see, each component of our sky lanterns has been designed carefully so that you can enjoy their magic safely.  In addition, their biodegradability makes them environmentally friendly and since they contain no wire there is absolutely no risk of wire being ingested by livestock once a lantern has landed.

In recent years, sky lanterns have become popular at many different types of events – promotional launches, advertising, Halloween, celebrations in general and of course weddings.  At weddings, many people now write good luck messages for the bride and groom onto their lanterns before launch them skywards, in keeping with the tradition of prosperity.

And now you know about their built in safety features, you will be able to enjoy your sky lanterns even more.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 4th, 2013 at 9:00 AM and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.