Betty Kelley had been making hand-painted luminaria (small paper lanterns) in her Jonesport workshop for the Center for Maine Craft when she stumbled across a fresh idea.

“I have this extraordinary view of the ocean from my work space,” she said. “We had a bunch of old nautical charts lying around. I’m in the process of making these luminaria, and I thought, ‘Wow, I wonder what a chart would look like folded up?’ ”

She grabbed a chart and folded it into a piece she liked so much she kept it on her desk.

Later, when people dropped by her studio to Christmas shop, “Everybody who came in just immediately zeroed in on this little chart piece,” Kelley said.

So she started making them to sell. She uses outdated NOAA charts she finds in yard sales, antique shops and knick-knack stores, and she focuses on charts that depict Casco, Penobscot and Frenchman bays and other places that tourists might visit and that show lots of islands and coastline.

“It makes interesting pieces because you see all these place names like Smugglers Cove, and you think ‘Ooh that’s so cool. How’d they get that name and wouldn’t you like to visit there?’ Fog Island and Green Ledge. There’s even one called Drunkard Ledge.”

Kelley takes special orders from coastal homeowners who “want their little cove to show.” Because of the way the luminaria are folded, those can be challenging, she said.

The luminaria are shipped in a sturdy box filled with shredded parchment paper, and come with a battery-operated candle. A small, single luminary costs $18, and a box of three is $40. A single large luminary is also $40.

Find them through her Etsy.com shop and at the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner; Archipelago, the Island Institute store in Rockland; Woodwind Gallery in Machias; and The Commons in Eastport.

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