Cigarette Box Paper Lantern

Step 2 Dismantle Your Cigarette Boxes

This is by far the longest and most tedious step.

Remove the cellophane from the box and recycle it.
Open the top of the box and carefully pull apart the tabs on the sides.
Carefully pull apart the lower (large) tabs on the sides of the box.
Tear out the shiny foil, and recycle it.
Lay the box flat, face down and cut down the lines on both sides where all the tabs are connected. (this will leave the front and back of the original box and remove the sides.) Recycle those tabs.
Lay the box face up and cut on the creases between the front / back pieces and the top / bottom pieces. Recycle those or save them for some other nifty project.
Pull off the piece that is right behind the front of the box (on my boxes, it is the gold piece.) It is glued on, but this glue is not to be trusted! When I constructed my lantern before taping these guys down, I had weird corners sticking out everywhere.
Fold a tape loop to stick these pieces back together.
Place the front face down, and tape the entire back of this piece.
Your deconstructed box parts should look like the last photo. Easy as pie!

Repeat with the other 23 boxes. Is your recycle bin full?