Paper Mache

I would like to make sculptures and things with paper mache as one of our weekly craft projects. Here is a great recipe for paper mache clay that I found (here).

Ingredients:

1 roll of toilet paper
3/4 cup of white glue (Elmer’s glue-All)
1 cup of joint compound
1/2 cup white flour
2 tablespoons linseed oil

 

Tools:

You’ll also need a large bowl, (use one with high sides so you don’t splatter clay on your cupboards), an electric mixer, a measuring cup and a tablespoon measure. To keep t he finished clay from drying out, you’ll need an air-tight container. The recipe makes approximately 1 quart of paper mache clay.

 

Note about Toilet Paper:

The artist that came up with this uses Angel Soft, regular 2-ply rolls. Each roll contains approximately 1 1/4 cup of paper.

 

Step 1. Fill a high-sided bowl with warm water. Remove the toilet paper from the roll and throw it into the water. Push down on the paper to make sure all of it gets wet.

 

Step 2. Then pick up the paper and squeeze out as much water as you can. Pour the water out of the bowl and put your paper mass back in.

 

Step 3. You will want to break the paper into chunks about 1″ across. This will allow your mixer to move around the pieces and break them apart.

 

Step 4. Add all the ingredients to the bowl and mix, using an electric mixer. The mixer will pull the fibers of the toilet paper apart and turn it into pulp. Continue to mix for at least 3 minutes to make sure all the paper has been mixed in with the other ingredients. If you still see some lumps, use a fork or your fingers (with the mixer turned off!) to break them apart, and then mix some more.

Book Binding

We have this great book on sewn book bindings and another great book that has many ideas for making small, fancy books. I would like to use these resources to make some gifts for family and friends during our weekly craft time.

Calligraphy Drawing

I want us to do some calligraphy drawing this year for one of our weekly craft projects. Here are some things that I need to know (found here) when looking for proper paper:

1 - It should be sized to keep the ink from "bleeding"
2 - It should be acid-free so that the paper will not turn yellow or become brittle any time soon. They can be labeled “acid-free”, “archival” or “rag”.
3 - Know what weight of paper you need based on what you will be doing with it. 60lb. paper will work well for our purposes.
4 - Paper surface should be smooth or hot-pressed

We already have penmanship books that teach proper line techniques so I thought that we would practice some of those and draw pictures. Perhaps we can make our own ink as well.

Marbled Paper

7/4/2013 - We will be making marbled paper as one of our weekly crafts. I found these instructions (here) and they seem to be very easy and child friendly. I'll let you know how it goes.

What You Need:

•  Shallow Pan (like a brownie pan)
• Water
• Food Coloring
• Cooking Oil
• White Paper
• Fork
• Cups

You need one cup for each color of food coloring you have. Put a tablespoon of cooking oil in each cup. Add a couple drops of food coloring to each cup – one color in each cup. Stir each oil/food coloring mixture really good with a fork.
Now fill the shallow pan about half way with water. Take each cup and pour a little of the oil/food coloring mixture into the water. Put each color in a different section of the pan. Swirl the colors with a fork. When you like the pattern, lay a clean white sheet of paper on top of the water. Leave it for 30 seconds and then carefully lift it off and lay it down to dry. Pretty!

7/11/2013 - I would like to know what brand of food coloring the author used. My food coloring is water based and all this project has taught the children so far is that oil and water don't mix. The food coloring did not mix with the oil, to be suspended on top of the water in the pan. It simply "broke" into little bits and when the oil/food color was put in the pan of water, the oil stayed on top and the food color fell into the water and changed the color of it. This was not the effect that I was looking for.
This is what I am going to try next:

 

Supplies Needed:

Corn Starch (to thicken the water)

Water

Shallow Pan

Acrylic Paints in several colors

Rubbing Alcohol

Lidded Jars to keep the paint

Paint Brushes (lots and lots of brushes)

Tape (to tape the brushes together) 

Paper

Newspaper

 

 

Prepare Your Materials: In the shallow pan, mix water and enough corn starch to make it the consistency of buttermilk. In each jar, mix a separate color of paint and some water to thin it. Then add a drop or two of rubbing alcohol to each paint jar and mix well. Tape a handful of brushes together at the handle ends so that the bristle ends will move when tapped. You will need a bundle of brushes for each color of paint. Have paper ready in a size that will easily fit inside your pan. Cover a nearby surface with newspaper so that you will have a nice place to dry your work.

 

Directions: Dip your brush bundle into the paint color of your choice, making sure that you have enough paint in the brushes. Hold the brush bundle over the prepared pan of thickened water and gently tap the brushes to splatter paint into the pan. Move the brushes around so that there is paint spots all over the surface of the water. Continue on, using several different colors until you like how it looks. Gently lay your paper on top of the painted water, starting with one corner so as not to trap air under your paper. Pull the paper up and let the water drip off, back into the pan. Lay your paper on a covered surface for a few minutes so that the paint can soak into your paper. Gently rinse the excess water off of your paper under running water. You do not want high pressure water as it will also wash away your paint. Set your rinsed papers on the newspaper covered surface to dry.

 

Extra Materials (Optional):

Wood

Nails

Wooden Skewers

 

If you want more than just dots on your paper, you can make rakes and combs using simple materials. See the video above for inspirations for your extra tools.

 

Other suggestions for tools were found here:

 

"* WHISKS (used to deposit color over the surface of the size): Collect broom straws from an old broom. They should range from 7-9 inches in length. Tie them tightly together into a bundle. Sizes can vary from large (many straws) to small (only a few).

* RAKES (used to create patterns by pulling them through the floating colors): Rakes are made by gluing toothpicks into the corrugations of cardboard box cardboard box pieces. Cut three equal lengths of cardboard and glue them together to form a handle. Lengths can vary from narrow to wide. Glue toothpicks into the corrugations. Space them apart as needed. "

 

  Here are some great papers to inspire us

Making Valentine's Cards

It's that time again and there are plenty of paper supplies at the dollar store to get us ready.

We pasted and cut and colored and folded and had a very nice time making cards to give out to family and friends.

A Folded Paper Box

This is a great origami project. I had a gift to give my mother and wanted something special to wrap it in. This box was perfect!

 
 Here is the little turtle that I found at an antique shop. I gave it to my mother for no special reason. I just wanted to give her a little smile..... and it worked.

 

I tied a string around it and put it in the box. The tag read "Just Because" on one side and "When You Need A Smile Pull" on the other. It was so cute to see everyone's expressions when she pulled out that little turtle on the end of a string. The top of the box was perfect and let the little guy right out when he was pulled.

Here is a link to the pdf so that you can make this box: http://www.lsi.upc.edu/~marc/Origami/box.pdf

Sissy Loves Her Origami Books

Last Christmas Sissy received a set of origami books and papers. She loved it so much that she put it on a shelf and forgot about it until just the other day. While I was inspired to make a box for Maw-Maw's little gift, Sissy was inspired to make an entire zoo of animals.

She had a blast and just raves about how easy the book makes folding. I'm sure that the special paper helps out as well.

Make sure and tell Sissy how well she did on her paper folding when you see or write to her next.

Love Mother

My First Scherenschnitte

Wow! What a project!

Scherenschnitte is a type of paper cutting that reminds me A Lot of cut lace. That must be the reason that I was drawn to it. Anyway, I worked on this a little on and off for several days. It is far from perfect but it was great fun to do.

According to Widipedia, Scherenschnitte (shear-n-SNIT- a) means "scissor cuts" in German and is the art of paper cutting design. "The art work often has symmetry within the design. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 1500s and was brought to Colonial America in the 1700s by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania." This type of folk art goes along great with our family heritage study since we have some German ancestors.

The girls watched me and were very excited when I was done. They wanted to do some of their own so I printed off some really easy examples for them. Sissy did a great job on hers and Curly, needing more practice with her scissors just cut around the outside. They both did a great job.

I have printed out my next project but have not started on it yet. I will post a pic when it is done. I am very excited about it because if it turns out well, will be a gift. Shhhh!

A Card From Sissy

We have a friend who had been in the hospital due to a heart attack. She has recently been released to go home and now she is having a birthday. Sissy wanted to make her a card that combined 'Happy Birthday' and 'Get Well Soon', so I thought that this card was a wonderful fit.