Showing posts with label Paper Mache. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paper Mache. Show all posts
Saturday, May 2, 2009
My Flower Pinata featured on Dabbled.org TODAY!
Thanks to Dot at Dabbled.org, for the opportunity to share my Flower Pinata on her blog today - just in time for Cinco de Mayo! Check it out HERE.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
MSCE April Days 20-25
This past weekend was Alison's wedding. I've been posting about crafty projects revolving around her wedding for some time now, and it's hard to believe it's all over! It was a whirlwind weekend, a lot of fun, and I was honored to not only stand up in her wedding, but also to share some of my handmade love with her as well.
MSCE April Day's 20-24 were spent working diligently on the pinata. Making this from scratch was such an interesting experience that I'll be posting a tutorial sometime soon. I learned so much while doing this and want to share my tips and tricks with you all. I should have started on the final product more than a week out, but I managed to get it done on time. Hubby was a huge help, he rigged a drying station upstairs in our office where we hung the pinata directly above two fans pointed upward. This meant that I could get two layers dry in about half a day. Genius!
I should also note, that although he may not admit it if you asked, Hubby helped assemble the tissue paper flowers when I was stressing the day before the wedding. What a trooper!
In the evening of MSCE April Day 24, which was the day before the wedding, I had to finish up some last minute gifts for the lovely bride. Mum and I made her a tote bag with her new initial. We made it in the wedding colors, in the same way we made the Spring Tote Bag.
I also made her a mini-scrapbook with photos from all of the events leading up to the wedding.
Check back throughout the week for MSCE Days 25 and 26 (wedding wrap up) and for a boatload of new projects now that the wedding is over, and MSCE April is coming to a close! Oh, and don't forget that I'm looking for folks to participate in the Jump In! Challenge with me. Go HERE to see the original post, and sign up! I'd love to make something for you, and for you to pass the homemade love to some other folks as well...
MSCE April Day's 20-24 were spent working diligently on the pinata. Making this from scratch was such an interesting experience that I'll be posting a tutorial sometime soon. I learned so much while doing this and want to share my tips and tricks with you all. I should have started on the final product more than a week out, but I managed to get it done on time. Hubby was a huge help, he rigged a drying station upstairs in our office where we hung the pinata directly above two fans pointed upward. This meant that I could get two layers dry in about half a day. Genius!
First layers of paper mache are on balloon, then the points were added.
The finished "body" spray-painted pink...
Tissue paper flowers cut and ready to affix...
The completed pinata, ready to hang...
I should also note, that although he may not admit it if you asked, Hubby helped assemble the tissue paper flowers when I was stressing the day before the wedding. What a trooper!
In the evening of MSCE April Day 24, which was the day before the wedding, I had to finish up some last minute gifts for the lovely bride. Mum and I made her a tote bag with her new initial. We made it in the wedding colors, in the same way we made the Spring Tote Bag.
I also made her a mini-scrapbook with photos from all of the events leading up to the wedding.
Check back throughout the week for MSCE Days 25 and 26 (wedding wrap up) and for a boatload of new projects now that the wedding is over, and MSCE April is coming to a close! Oh, and don't forget that I'm looking for folks to participate in the Jump In! Challenge with me. Go HERE to see the original post, and sign up! I'd love to make something for you, and for you to pass the homemade love to some other folks as well...
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Catching Up: MSCE April Days 15-19
So I may be a bit behind on the posting side of things, but I'm certainly not behind with all things MSCE April. I've been doing surprisingly well with the challenge - even though I may not be COMPLETING projects everyday, I'm certainly working on something daily. I'll show you!
(Click on photo to enlarge and see projects a little clearer...)
MSCE April Days 15 & 16: Heather's purple scarf!
Heather's birthday was LAST MONTH - and it's taken me this long to get it even close to being done. Another six inches or so should do it. It's made from really interesting yarn with fuzzies and pieces of fabric woven in. You can hardly see the actual stitches once it's knitted up. Good thing Heather is patient! : )
MSCE April Day 17: Black beaded necklace
All of these beads came from a store bought necklace that broke - months and months ago. I salvaged everything I could, bought some extra seed beads, and have started putting it back together - my way. I'm being ridiculously picky about it, and have started over numerous times already. Plus I know next-to-nothing about jewelry making, so I'm working on he fly. It's less than a quarter of the way finished...
MSCE April Day 18: Sidewalk Chalk Flood!
There was a phenomenal event downtown on Saturday - one in a series of "urban experiments." Essentially, the Sidewalk Chalk Flood was organized by a college guy, promoted by the media but mostly through Facebook. Hundreds upon hundreds of people showed up, received free sidewalk chalk, and went to town! We went with friends and had a blast - it was a BEAUTIFUL day.
The local newspaper did an article on the event the next day and amongst several quotes from participants was this one... "It's both kid friendly and artist driven. In the current economic climate, it's almost as if you're seeing people embrace life and play. It's not about consumerism. It's about people." -- Boy, I just LOVE that. I'm not sure if anyone could have wrapped it up better.
For more about the event click HERE.
MSCE April Day 19: The Pinata
Remember my friend Alison? Remember her wedding? Remember the pinata I was making for her wedding reception? Weeelllll.... her wedding is this coming Saturday! So, after the prototypes earlier this year, it's time to get down to it for real. I got the first two layers done today, and rigged it so it's hanging from the ceiling in my studio to dry. I also cut out and scored the cones to make the points of the pinata - but I forgot to take photos of those. You'll see them in a later post I'm sure, there will be a lot of pinata-ing this week!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
(Click on photo to enlarge and see projects a little clearer...)
MSCE April Days 15 & 16: Heather's purple scarf!
Heather's birthday was LAST MONTH - and it's taken me this long to get it even close to being done. Another six inches or so should do it. It's made from really interesting yarn with fuzzies and pieces of fabric woven in. You can hardly see the actual stitches once it's knitted up. Good thing Heather is patient! : )
MSCE April Day 17: Black beaded necklace
All of these beads came from a store bought necklace that broke - months and months ago. I salvaged everything I could, bought some extra seed beads, and have started putting it back together - my way. I'm being ridiculously picky about it, and have started over numerous times already. Plus I know next-to-nothing about jewelry making, so I'm working on he fly. It's less than a quarter of the way finished...
MSCE April Day 18: Sidewalk Chalk Flood!
There was a phenomenal event downtown on Saturday - one in a series of "urban experiments." Essentially, the Sidewalk Chalk Flood was organized by a college guy, promoted by the media but mostly through Facebook. Hundreds upon hundreds of people showed up, received free sidewalk chalk, and went to town! We went with friends and had a blast - it was a BEAUTIFUL day.
The local newspaper did an article on the event the next day and amongst several quotes from participants was this one... "It's both kid friendly and artist driven. In the current economic climate, it's almost as if you're seeing people embrace life and play. It's not about consumerism. It's about people." -- Boy, I just LOVE that. I'm not sure if anyone could have wrapped it up better.
For more about the event click HERE.
MSCE April Day 19: The Pinata
Remember my friend Alison? Remember her wedding? Remember the pinata I was making for her wedding reception? Weeelllll.... her wedding is this coming Saturday! So, after the prototypes earlier this year, it's time to get down to it for real. I got the first two layers done today, and rigged it so it's hanging from the ceiling in my studio to dry. I also cut out and scored the cones to make the points of the pinata - but I forgot to take photos of those. You'll see them in a later post I'm sure, there will be a lot of pinata-ing this week!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Pinata Project
I'm on fire with the blog posts today!
In case you don't remember, I'm making a Mexican-inspired pinata for the children at Alison's wedding. Since I haven't made anything out of paper mache since I was a kid, I figured I had better start working on this project EARLY, so that I can experiment a lot along the way.
To begin, I wanted to try different paper mache pastes to see what worked the best.
The first recipe I tried was the classic water and flour mixtures. I used about two parts warm water to one part flour, and mixed until it formed a thick, glue-like mixture (I ended up adding a little more flour than I had originally put in.)
It sure took a lot of mixing to get the lumps out!
Then I went to town with my newspaper strips. I felt like a big kid! I thought to myself as I was dipping and sticking that it would make a lot of sense to use a paintbrush for the paste application - but that would take away so much of the fun! it was sort of therapeutic to come home from work and play with goo!
I tried to keep the strips of paper as smooth as possible - but it wasn't easy.
The second paste recipe I tried was two parts white glue to one part warm water.
This paste was so much easier to work with! It was smoother, and while it adhered really well, it was glossier and didn't stick to everything ELSE in my work space. It was easier to create a smooth surface. And it LOOKED nicer - which in the end doesn't matter at all when you consider its going to be painted then covered with tissue...
It all depends on how they dry - but in terms of which paste was better to work with, the glue based one was hands down the best.
In case you don't remember, I'm making a Mexican-inspired pinata for the children at Alison's wedding. Since I haven't made anything out of paper mache since I was a kid, I figured I had better start working on this project EARLY, so that I can experiment a lot along the way.
To begin, I wanted to try different paper mache pastes to see what worked the best.
The first recipe I tried was the classic water and flour mixtures. I used about two parts warm water to one part flour, and mixed until it formed a thick, glue-like mixture (I ended up adding a little more flour than I had originally put in.)
It sure took a lot of mixing to get the lumps out!
Then I went to town with my newspaper strips. I felt like a big kid! I thought to myself as I was dipping and sticking that it would make a lot of sense to use a paintbrush for the paste application - but that would take away so much of the fun! it was sort of therapeutic to come home from work and play with goo!
I tried to keep the strips of paper as smooth as possible - but it wasn't easy.
The second paste recipe I tried was two parts white glue to one part warm water.
This paste was so much easier to work with! It was smoother, and while it adhered really well, it was glossier and didn't stick to everything ELSE in my work space. It was easier to create a smooth surface. And it LOOKED nicer - which in the end doesn't matter at all when you consider its going to be painted then covered with tissue...
It all depends on how they dry - but in terms of which paste was better to work with, the glue based one was hands down the best.
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