Tags
I’m so tickled with how this came out!
22 Sunday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
I’m so tickled with how this came out!
20 Friday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
Another one in the late stages:
You can’t see it in this photo, but the exterior is a wonderful translucent green wash. The edge on this one is totally organic; I sanded off the sharpness, but left the freeform shape of the paper mache, and I really love the effect.
20 Friday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
In the final stages:
The interior has a simple mustard translucent wash that lets the texture of the paper mache show through; the exterior is an avocado green.
20 Friday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
Last Saturday, I spent the day running a zillion errands; one of my stops was at Savers, where I found a set of three nesting stainless steel bowls, perfect for use as forms for paper mache. I’m starting with the middle-sized one, which yields a bowl slightly larger than my previous ones; here’s the first bowl drying out on the balcony:
Not terribly exciting to look at, but I’m excited to have some variety in sizes to play with. 🙂
20 Friday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
Here’s the Paint & Stitch bowl, decorated and in the progress of being varnished:
The stitching fiber will be black. Not entirely sure how I’ll finish the fiber portion; I didn’t plan the holes carefully enough, so some finagling will be involved in that department. I’m really curious how it will turn out, now!
17 Tuesday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
Here’s the latest WIP:
I haven’t decided yet whether this piece will incorporate beads, or merely fiber, but it will definitely be mixed media. Sort of fun to experiment, and just wing it. 😉
08 Sunday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
And the sanding continues:
I wish someone would make ball-shaped sanding blocks; they’d be harsh on the fingers to hold, but would make it a lot easier to sand curved surfaces. Even foam sanding blocks don’t really cut it, when it comes to the tight curves of Worry Birds…
07 Saturday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
While I wait for bowls to dry, I’m working on another Worry Bird. Here it is after the initial drying:
And here it is after a layer of finishing pulp has been applied and allowed to dry:
Next comes sanding…lots, and lots, of sanding…
07 Saturday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
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.
05 Thursday Apr 2012
Posted original
inTags
Remember that bowl with the cracks? Here’s the final finished product: