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.

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.

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. 🙂

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!

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. 😉

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…

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…