This oriental lamp shade is extremely calming and is a perfect distress formula when accompanied with soothing music and aroma.

It creates a relaxing ambience and can be used as a meditation box and yoga pursuits.

To make the box I used a laptop cardboard box, parchment paper, crepe paper/ cloth, paper scrap (to make paper mache pulp, EVA glue, an old shapely bottle, paint and any accessory you would like to think of.

Step 1: Make Your Paper Mache Clay

Soak newspaper/ paper shreds overnight in water (this may stink a bit) or more till it become pulpy. Once done strain the paper, add 1/6th amount of EVA glue, two spoonfuls of white compound, pinch of zinc oxide (to ensure it doesn't catch mold) and mix the mixture together. Your paper mache clay is ready, it should be the consistency of bread dough.

On another sheet of paper I sketched out a meditative posture and rolled the paper mache clay on it. With a spoon draw out The outline such that when painted it looks like a 3D figure. I also made 7 holes to elaborate the seven mediation chakras. Since this will be stuck on the bottle, if you are making holes too, be prepared to make symmetrical holes in the bottle too for the light to see through.

Step 2: Make Your Box

Cut out one side of the box with a cutter and tape parchment paper to it. trace the bottle onto it and cut a gap accordingly for some portion of the bottle to protrude adding to the 3D effect.

The paper mache take about 60 hours to dry completely. Once done paint it and stick it to the bottle with hot glue. You may want to paint the bottle white before sticking it. For the head halo I simply painted a needle holder golden and stuck it, but you could do with a bangle too

To create a temple effect, I cut out orianteal temple shapes of card paper and stuck it gently behind such that it filter light that way.

Step 3: Decorate

This is the fun part. You can use printed paper, ready flower or anything you want. I chose to cut out leaves from cloth and make flowers myself. I painted a white cotton sheet, set it dry and coated it with a thin layer of diluted EVA glue. Once done I cut out petals and leaves from it. The idea of applying glue is to make it hold the shape you decide to give it while keeping it flexible. With a wire/ green tape I attached leaves / flowers to make a banana tree alongside.

You could also do something similar with ready flower making material/ crepe paper like I used to make my lotus.

Step 4: Attach a Light String

I wanted to shade the backdrop. hence I used patches of differently colored gelatin paper and made a frame. Inside the box I neatly laid out the LED string, ending it inside the bottle. Over this I placed my multicolored frame. You could skip this and use a colored LED string if you like.