Paper Mache Play

I really love paper mache! In elementary school I hated it, but I’m going to assume it is because they didn’t explain the process well and they wanted us to make super bulky newspaper bases and what I ended up with was a damp, lumpy mess that did not look like a unicorn. Today I covered some balloons on Pringles cans to make more craft show displays (these are child head sized) and I also covered some thread cones with Styrofoam ball heads and some wooden peg dolls.  I really like the texture that paper mache gives to a finished piece and how well it integrates the separate parts together.  I think that they now look like giant game pieces and now I want to make some of those, these are going to be something else. I used the paper mache recipe from The Big Ass Book of Crafts from Mark Montano, it’s a basic flour paste with a bit of white glue added in.  I did one layer last night and it has dried rock hard, I will add at least one more layer to the displays and then some paper clay to smooth it out and add some details to my other pieces.  There is a recipe for paper mache mush in the book that would be great for that, but I have some paper clay on hand that I have had forever and I want to use that up.

I would also like to note that I have been doing some cleaning and you’ll notice that my normally cluttered dining room table is clean, we could eat dinner at the table if we wanted, I know, it’s crazy!  Now to work on the rest of the house, I finally figured out the psychology of why my house was cluttered (no, I don’t want to share) and I expect to make a lot of progress in the next month.

I should be busy working on these projects all weekend, what will you be working on?  Have a super crafty weekend, everyone!