I have to admit this craft project came about after I saw some lovely fairy lights by artist  Louise Traill and decided to try to copy them.

Hers are made with (I think) with tissue paper and wire.  I made some using this method and others on my string were made with lampshade sticky PVC and a stapler and covered with fabric or paper.

The method I worked out for the wire framed shades was more or less like this:

I used pva glue and paper strips wound round the wire shapes and then glued paper around the frame to hold it together.  The second and third sides need a small overlap.  There is a fixed wire across the top opening and a second wire that is only fixed at one end. This is to attach the shade to the light string, using the second wire to hold the bulb in place (so it is not touching the paper).

I made various shapes and tried different methods.  The paper wrapped wire was best for sticking delicate paper coverings onto and was neater than my first attempts where I twisted the wires together.  I used tissue paper, old paper bags, wrapping paper and Japanese tissue paper, and decorated the shades with scraps of braid, buttons, wire curls and beads.  The moon face is from a drawing that I printed out.

Here is part of the string above my desk.