Lots of chatting on the forum has turned my attention to lanterns. They are actually more like tea lights. I think they are fun in wood, but acrylic makes them more fun because of the colors - red, black,blue glitter. Plus, the inside pieces can also be acrylic with various looks from translucent to glassy.
I used birch ply and standard acrylic to make the structures. The inside acrylic I found while shopping for acrylic. It is cast acrylic so it stinks!
Fun and pretty straight forward.
I’m a sucker for anything acrylic, love those! In fact, I am waiting on some frosted acrylic to make one of those myself! I can’t find anything cool like that locally, so I have to order everything (and pay more for shipping than the stupid acrylic costs) 
Thanks! That sounds familiar! Some of the specialty acrylics I have seen cost a ton! I like acrylic, too and can’t resist!
Those are great ! Many looks with the same design by changing materials.
One of the main points of getting the Glowforge for me was that it made wood stuff instead of plastic, but as I am getting to designs that are more open I am looking more at something to scatter the light. I have been playing with facial tissue that stiffens up when sprayed with lacquer but would like to find a better answer.
Thanks! I am sometimes surprised how different a red or yellow will make something look and “feel” vs a black or white. I like that about acrylic and even the exotic woods can have a similar affect. When I got the GF, I was not very familiar with acrylic, but the GF was the impetus to get to know if better.
The different types of acrylic do have that advantage of light scattering in a variety of ways, but I get the avoid plastic mantra. Your facial tissue and lacquer is an interesting idea. What comes to my mind is crepe paper, rice paper, maybe thin parchments. There are some japanese papers that might also be of interest. Of course, art papers that are thin, but hand made could also be neat because of the fiber variations in them. Can’t wait for you to post your stuff!
@MakerMatthew Those are really fun! Lights and lanterns are my favorite thing; I just need to find a way to fit bazillions of them into my decor. 
@ElsieH Substitutes for frosted acrylic that I have resorted to:
Clear acrylic with a light pass of white spray paint (these were decorations for my parents’ 60th):
Clear acrylic with the masking left on one side:
Nice! I didn’t realize that’s what you ended up using. I thought you were going to use vellum or something like that for the crane.
I did, for the first one. This was the second version, which is taller. I was peeling the masking off when I realized I was taking paper off and then planning to put paper back over it, so I just left it on one side and saved myself the extra step. 
EDIT: If I ever come across some nice textured rice paper I’ll probably upgrade it, but until then, this looks just fine!
Krylon makes a frosting spray. You can get it in the paint aisle at Home Depot. The frosting gets more pronounced the more coats you use. I don’t bother buying frosted acrylic because I can make any acrylic frosted with the spray. That helps keep my materials storage under control.
The frosting effect shows up when it dries - don’t worry when you spray it and the acrylic just looks wet. 
Great to see all the variations!
This was one place where I was looking though it is a mite pricey.
Now you tell me 
I will remember that though, it’s good to know! It never dawned on me that paint would stick to acrylic (and I should have realized, since I’ve seen lots of examples of it but thought it was all specialty paint or something).
Nice assortment. Lanterns are nice for changing up for decor, holidays, or whatever.
Nothing with the paper yet but I have shared a long road from start to now. A few samples along the way Here, Here, Here, and Here
Holy moly, @geek2nurse, that’s some production. It’s been a while since I have jumped on a project like that.
We had a pile of them! I cut everything out before we flew down for the celebration, and @timjedwards’s girls helped me with assembly. I told attendees to take them home after the party, and we only ended up with like two left, so I guess they liked them!
Krylon also makes a couple lines of translucent spray paints called Sea Glass (frosted) and Stained Glass (not frosted)
The color selection isn’t large but they do work nicely.
For tons of translucent color choices Design Master sprays are the pro go to.
Looking great! Nice work.
Great Collection of Lanterns!! Beautiful work!
Where did you find the irregular patterned acrylic?
The lanterns are outstanding, BTW…
