Building paper hot air balloons

November 22, 2004 3:09 PM

“Loi Krathong” (Festival of Light) is taking place right now across Thailand, during which balloon-like ‘Khom Loi’ lanterns including the ‘Khom Fai’ – a fire lantern are released into the night sky. They're "air bags of various shapes" made of "Tracing paper or Sa paper."

Has anyone ever successfully built one of these? Are there any sites on the net that give some direction on how to go about doing so?
posted by fourstar to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

I don't know, but I have been there during Loi Krathong. Those lanterns have all these firecrackers and crap attatched, and wherever they land, they land. Quite the fire hazard, but the Thais aren't anal about that stuff so much.

It makes our fourth of July look like a piker, frankly.
posted by konolia at 4:29 PM on November 22, 2004

Response by poster: Well how about some pictures at least?
posted by fourstar at 4:59 PM on November 22, 2004

Here is one

Ironically enough, on this page there are also instructions on how to make the loi krathongs, which are the floating banana leaf thingees that they put in the river...
posted by konolia at 6:50 PM on November 22, 2004 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine did something similar once. I don't remember the exact details but this is what he told me.

He took a couple of sticks, balsa I believe but I don't remember, and made a cross. Then he attached a small candle (or a couple), in the center. He used one of those dry-cleaning bags for a balloon. It sounded cool but I never got around to trying it.
posted by euphorb at 7:55 PM on November 22, 2004

I did watch one launched up close. They held it till the candles heated the air inside enough to give it lift, then off it went. The sky was full of the things. Quite a sight.
posted by konolia at 8:44 PM on November 22, 2004

One of the many, many paradoxes of the exquisitely mad Thai culture. It's a wonderful spectacle of light when the Khom Fai are released, freighted with metaphorical meaning; and then they lose altitude and come down once everyone is drunk or sleeping or both; they land on the traditionally wooden houses and burn them down. Every year, hundreds of houses go up in flames and many die. The classic Thai response to this chain of events is, "how sad, this bad luck."
posted by squirrel at 10:59 PM on November 22, 2004

The little banana boats (Kratongs) are beautiful, too. Once upon a time, they were made of entirely biodegradable materials, but now some of the lazier folks have started using styrofoam and plastic bases. Environmental nightmare.
posted by squirrel at 11:02 PM on November 22, 2004