A bowl in the oven, and another on the form out on the sunny balcony, setting up — life is good. 😉

Paper mache is so tactile a medium, even when I’m just creating a bowl over a form — the moist mache moving over the surface (sometimes where you don’t want it to!) is a living thing, that needs to be coaxed into shape. It’s a physical manifestation of creativity, this clay, and there’s something magical in touching it, molding it, smoothing it, enticing it into becoming.

Often I wish I had another half-dozen forms, so that I didn’t have to wait for one piece to dry before starting another…but in a way it’s a good thing, this forced patience. Drying time is thinking time, creative time of a different flavor. I can hop online and see what other crafters are up to, what new ideas have popped up on Pinterest, what interesting pieces have been added to Etsy. I can go through my paper collection and my craft library, picking up inspiration. And then it’s time to pull my own piece off the form and pop it into the oven, and start the next. I oscillate between the tactile and the mental; it satisfies on both fronts, which is satisfying on a whole different level.