BIKE CITY MINI SHOJI

WOODWORKS LANTERN

MINI SHOJI LANTERN

First of all, credit where credit is due: the design for this mini shoji lantern was inspired by Adrian Preda's
own mini shoji lanterns. I have altered the dimensions and have added certain embellishments, but the
construction is largely the same as his. Go follow him on Instagram and YouTube.
These lanterns are great for mood lighting around the home. Use a flickering LED votive inside instead of
a candle if you're not going to leave the top open. I found my LED votives at Target.

© Bike City Woodworks bikecitywoodworks.com 1

 BIKE CITY MINI SHOJI
WOODWORKS LANTERN

THE LEGS

You can make the cross-laps in the legs a number of ways: with hand tools only, using a table saw blade
taking multiple passes, with a miter saw using its depth stop to make dadoes, or with a dado stack on a
table saw. Whichever way you do it, err toward the side of snug — sneak up on your cuts.

© Bike City Woodworks bikecitywoodworks.com 2

 BIKE CITY MINI SHOJI
WOODWORKS LANTERN

THE STRETCHERS

Much in the same way as the legs, there are a number of ways to cut the cross-laps in the stretchers.
However, I don't recommend using a miter saw with a depth stop, as it gets your fingers far too close to
the blade.

© Bike City Woodworks bikecitywoodworks.com 3

 BIKE CITY MINI SHOJI
WOODWORKS LANTERN

THE SIDE PANEL KUMIKO

There are many orientations and designs you can use for your side panel kumiko frames, so consider this
simply an example of the technique. You can use 1/8" wide stock, 1/4" wide stock, etc. — it's all up to you.
Whatever you use, it's important to have a snug fit within the lantern frame. I tend to oversize the kumiko
by about a millimeter and shoot the sides on my shooting board until the fit is snug.
Attaching the paper to the kumiko can be done a number of ways as well. I use vellum paper and CA glue.
I also install the kumiko into the lantern frame with CA glue, thinking that if I ever need to remove it for
any reason it'd be easier to do so with CA glue holding it than wood glue.

Vertical Kumiko

Horizontal Kumiko

© Bike City Woodworks bikecitywoodworks.com 4