While the Covid-19 pandemic has dampened the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration this year, one young Malaysian is especially enthusiastic to keep the flame burning.

Tan Ke Xin has pursued the art of lantern-making for the last eight years. Having started when she was 16, she discovered her passion when she won her first lantern competition where the prize was a trip to see the annual Lantern Festival in Taiwan.

“It was a big event and it really impressed me because the lanterns were up to 6m tall. Over there it (lantern-making) is a huge thing and it can be a full-time job because they take the whole year to prepare for the exhibition. For us, it’s just a hobby or for side-income.

“From there, I had a different perspective of art, so I started to join more workshops and assisted the Taiwanese masters who were teaching.”

Two years later, Tan received her mentoring certificate which made her the youngest lantern “sifu” (mentor) in the country.

She now regularly conducts lantern-making workshops comprising 20 to 30 participants. She also has an impressive portfolio under her belt, spanning from small custom-made lanterns for personal orders to 2m-tall figures exhibited at the entrance of shopping malls.

Her biggest creation to date involves two cartoon mice lanterns, standing at 4.2m tall, which took her two weeks to complete.

“A 2m lantern normally takes one week, at least eight hours of work every day. For small ones, if I spend all my time on it, I can finish in a day.”

Yet Tan makes it all sound like a walk in the park, despite the time-consuming creation process. A typical lantern, she said, starts with sketching out a draft to scale.

“If it’s a big one, we actually take up the entire floor to sketch it out because we need to measure the exact size to make sure the dimensions are accurate. We draw a front view and a side view.”

The next step involves bending wires, 0.5cm to 1cm thick, to create a three-dimensional skeleton before attaching cables ties to secure everything in place.

LED lights and electrical wire components are then inserted into the skeleton. Lastly, the skeleton is covered by layers of fabric with a glue gun.

“After everything is done, we will test the lights and do a quality check. We keep it open for maybe eight to 10 hours to make sure it doesn’t burn out, or that the glued fabric doesn’t open up after one or two days.

“If it’s a big lantern that is exhibited outdoors, we wrap the lights with waterproof material to prevent water from touching it.”

Apart from being one of the youngest lantern-makers in the country, Tan noted that most “sifus” are male as it is easier for men to mould thicker wires required for bigger creations.

“When I attended my first workshop, I did it until I cried because it was too painful. It’s okay bending the wires for one to two hours, but if you have to do it everyday for a whole week … on the last day my hands were shaking. It was full of scratches and (over the years) I even got small scars from lantern-making.”

However, she said basic lanterns are easy to learn even for beginners, and encouraged more people her age to give it a try regardless of their artistic capabilities.

“Traditional culture is good because it trains your patience. I’m more hopeful that young people will get into it because it’s an interesting group activity and a unique experience for everyone.”