Summer 2016 Session IV: The Moon Rabbits

The Moon Rabbit
Micron Pen & Colored Pencil
R L McNulty 2016

This mystery for ages 9 to 12 began when I was researching Chinese myths about the ten sun ravens. Every source mentioned that the sun ravens had twelve counterparts, sister rabbits associated with the moon. Yet when I went looking for the stories about the moon rabbits, there were none to be found.

I decided that this had to be fixed. The moon daughters deserve a good story. So here it is: The Moon Rabbits.


When twelve elusive Moon Rabbits go missing, the Detectives set out in search of a lost tale from ancient China. Their search takes them to one of the oldest libraries and from there into the Celestial Heavens. Good thing they have their Moon Lanterns, because the White Road is long, cold and dark.

Our activities this week include Moon Lanterns and hand-sewn Moon Rabbits.

Moon Lanterns

One of the loveliest and simplest of art projects is the Moon Lantern we're going to be creating for the mystery "Nine Fallen Suns." After a week of sunchasing, the Detectives will need a bit of the moon's cool and collected beauty. Twelve rabbits might seem an unlikely crew to produce such soothing, gentle moon energy, so I like to think of this project as something the moon daughters create during bunny snuggles time (which is most of the day--I should know, I have three rabbits slumbering in my home.)

I tested many different flower and lantern designs to come up with something easy and elegant. Here is the final design:

It's a traditional fanfold flower made from crepe paper, which gives it more strength and suppleness. The petals are easily arranged and fluffed. The light is a little battery-powered tea light. Safe for paper, since it's an LED bulb. I think the handle may need to be two pipe cleaners, so they hold their shape.

At night, the Moon Lanterns come into their own with a lovely warm glow.

I can't wait to see a whole group of these -- we may have to find a dark hallway somewhere on campus, so we can take some lovely photos. There are more photos of the lantern in the Nine Fallen Suns album on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page.