Large Papier Mache Pumpkin

This is just a short post to show you another variation of the papier mache pumpkin.

We follow the same procedure as before we just use these large pumpkins.  For the nose I made a cone out of cardstock and then taped it on the face.

The eyes are 2 sections from an egg carton, taped on and papier mached over.

You only need 2 coats of mache. Let dry and then paint with acrylic or tempera.

If you want to keep it on display outside use an outdoor sealer.

Papier Mache Pumpkin Tower

Ok, next up with our series on "altering those little plastic pumpkins" is this Pumpkin Tower (totem pole).

It's based on this wooden pumpkin tower (totem pole) that I made several years ago.
































MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 2 of those little plastic pumpkins from the Dollar store
- white glue
- a few paper towels
- water
- recycled container for the glue mix
- sheet of wax or parchment paper, or an old plastic bag
- paint, acrylic or tempera
- Mod Podge, optional






PROCEDURE:

Cut or tear your paper towels into strips.  Mix up your white glue with some warm water (makes it feel less yucky for the kids) in your recycled container. 1 to 1 ratio.

Remove the plastic handle.

Working on top of your wax paper,

start covering your little pumpkin with strips crossing the ends over. 

The middle pumpkin only needs a couple of coats but for the bottom one you want it to be a bit larger so add a few more.

Add a few features in papier mache to the faces.

Leave the opening in the plastic pumpkin as is, you don't need to cover it over.

For the top pumpkin I took a 1/2 sheet of paper towel and scrunched it into a ball.  I then papier mache a layer or two on top of this. You could also use paper, foil or newspaper.


Try to keep it smaller than your middle pumpkin.

When you added all the features you want let dry.  You'll need to turn them every so often to get all sides to dry out.

When they have dried out, (a couple of days), paint with acrylic or tempera.

I wanted my top pumpkin to have a witch hat so I made one out of felt.

I used the glue gun but you could use tacky glue.

Glue on top of your little pumpkin.

Then start gluing your tower together.  I used the glue gun as I was a bit impatient but you could use tacky glue again here.

Now if after gluing your tower doesn't stand up you can push in the bottom of large pumpkin.  This should help.

If you want you can seal the pumpkins with Mod Podge for a nice shiny coat.


.........and that's it.  You can vary your tower having the faces looking out at slightly different positions if you want.

I also do a variation of this with Grade 1 and Kindergarten using paper.  We talk about facial expressions and try to get 3 different looks to our pumpkins.




Give it a try and I'll see you next time.

Little Papier Mache Pumpkins

So I know it's early to think about Halloween but I have a whole series planned.

First up these little pumpkins.











MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- a few paper towels, make sure they are the cushiony ones not those industrial ones
- white glue
- a recycled container for your glue mix
- water
- little plastic pumpkins from the Dollar Store (optional)
- paint, either acrylic or tempera
- wire
- a few beads

Now you could use a balloon, just inflate it a little and mache up to where the top section is gone but I just use these little pumpkins.  They are super cheap (6 or 8 for a $1.00), and because it's a firm base this works well for little kids.

Remove the plastic handle.

Tear or cut your paper towel into small strips.
Combine your glue and water at a 1 to 1 ratio and start wetting your strips.  Apply in a criss cross way.  You'll only need 1 to 2 coats here because you have a base.  Build up some features onto the face.  I used little balls for the eyes and a carrot shape for the nose.  Stick onto face and add some strips overlapping both the feature you've added and part of the face to adhere.  There are lots of options here, you can add lips, eyebrows, ears, etc.  Let dry overnight and then turn upside down to let the bottom dry out for a few hours.

Once this is dry you can trim out any excess paper at the top if needed with scissors.


Now I wanted a kinda of distressed look so I painted them black first.  You can only do this with acrylic paint if you are using tempera just start with the final colors you want.

Paint your face.  If you have some really fine details you can have the kids add these with fine sharpies after the paint has dried.  I find young kids have more control with the sharpie than a fine paintbrush.




Let dry.

Now with the little pumpkins you should still be able to see or feel the hole on the inside.  Insert an awl, knitting needle, or a piece of really strong wire to open up that hole pushing to the outside.

I'm keeping these as little baskets so I added a wire handle and a few beads. 

If you want you can give these a quick coat of glossy Mod Podge and that's it.

I have a few more projects coming up that are based on these little plastic pumpkins so if you're at the Dollar store I would definitely pick up a bunch!

.....and if you are tree trimming for Fall keep a large branch as I can already visualize a Halloween tree on display at school with each child's very individual pumpkin.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the DVD set of "Art of the Western World", the draw is Friday!  See previous post for all the info.


We'll see you soon!

Paper Mache Easter Eggs

Here is a batch of paper mache eggs I finished this weekend.

Paper mache is a good option for kids, the egg is virtually accident proof (no breakage) and are good keepers once sealed.

Paper Mache Puppets

Aren't these great.  I especially love Jeff's (age 7) mutant one eyed attack chicken........

and Ryan's (age 10) blue lizard man!



It's great when a project gets done.  This one took a few days so the kids were glad to get it completed.

I first did paper mache puppets with my daughter's Grade 3 class for Halloween. ( that was 5 years ago)  We made spooky monsters and creatures, because it's Halloween I find the kids can just let their imagination soar when coming up with ideas.

Materials Required:

- sticks
- paper towels
- foil
- white glue
- Kleenex
- recycled container to hold glue mixture
- paint
- mod podge (optional)
- string
- scrap fabric
- odds and ends to embellish with

Take a stick, about pencil length and wrap a ball of foil on the end.

Mix up a glue/water solution at a 1 to 1 ratio.

Using paper towel strips dipped in the mixture start wrapping the head.  You want to cross over strips randomly, smooth it down and make it tight, and wrap some strips down onto the stick to hold the head in place.

Every once and a while use a dry strip..it will soak up the excess glue.

Put some Kleenex in the glue mixture and use this to mold your facial details.

Set your heads aside to dry for a few days and turn them once and a while.


Paint with acrylic or tempera paint.

If you want you can add a coat of mod podge for a nice shine.

All our puppet heads ready to go!

Tie a length of string around the neck for the arms, you could use yarn, anything flexible.

Cut a rectangle from some scrap cloth. you want it to be twice as long as you want the puppet's body to be and as wide as you want it's arms to be.

Take your length of fabric and fold in middle, then fold lengthwise and cut a notch in the center of your fabric.

This is where the head will go.

Slide stick into hole and pull in string, lay it out like this.

Wrap stick with some stuffing, scrap fabric, whatever is around to add some bulk to your body.

You can trim your fabric a bit too at this time getting a triangular type shape.

Now you want to add some glue at the neck, under the hands, and down the sides.  You can use tacky glue, I used hot glue.

Alternatively you could also sew the fabric in these places.

I thought I took pictures of "making the hands" but I guess I forgot.  Cut out 4 hands, use felt, craft foam, fabric.  Lay one down, add a drop of glue, place end of one string arm in the glue and then place another hand on top sandwiching in the string.  Repeat for other hand.

You can add feathers, hair, and embellishments at this point.

This is the back of Jeff's chicken puppet.

Attach a string, I'm using fishing line, around the neck of the puppet.

Find 2 sticks from outside that are about 6 inches or so and cross them in the middle, wind some pipe cleaner around them and then secure in place with hockey tape or duct tape.

Near the end  of one of the sticks tie on a small loop made from pipe cleaner, tape down.



Now attach string from your head to the center cross of your sticks.

Measure out a length of string that is double the length from where your puppet's hand is to the sticks, an extra hand comes in handy here, someone to hold the puppet upright while you are measuring.

Tie one end of your string on one hand, here I threaded one end onto a big needle and feed it thru the felt hand, knot it tightly a few times.

Feed the other end of the string thru the loop you made on your stick and down to the other hand, attach in same manner.

Now your puppets are ready.

Here Mutant Chicken and Lizard Man
battle for world domination!





See you next time.

The Figure - A Sculptural Project

In the course of teaching Art at some point you will address the importance of the figure.

Now you can sketch the figure, paint it, pastel it, .....deal with it in a variety of ways but a sculptural project allows kids to really appreciate the way the figure occupies/moves in its space.

I'm always looking for sculptural/3D projects so this is what I came up with.  It is paper mache on a wire armature that is easy enough for the kids to construct and utilizes recyclables.

Now the inspiration for this project is Mario Armengol's "Family of Man" sculptures.  They were first exhibited in Expo '67 and since then have resided in Calgary.  We are lucky to have them.

I grew up with these statues and they have always fascinated me.

Whenever I am downtown I try to spend some time appreciating them, .........their size, they way they occupy their space, their relation to one another, their story.
My kids love them to and are always trying to figure what's going on between the figures.



MATERIALS REQUIRED:
- recycled tuna can
- awl
- wire
- duct tape
- paper towel
- wax paper
- white school glue
- acrylic paint

Before you start your sculpture you may want to discuss the way the figure moves in space.

Discuss different positions the figure may take, you may also want to have the kids sketch out some figures to plan out their sculpture.



Take your tuna can and poke 2 holes thru the bottom with your awl. This needs to be done by an adult.

Now I have a can opener that makes a "safe edge" when it cuts but you can always use some duct tape along the edge to cover the sharp edge.

For this project I used some wire I purchased from Wal mart.  I can't remember the gauge as the label is gone but it is soft enough to bend with your fingers but strong enough to hold the shape.  Take a piece about 18 inches or so. and bend in half.

Feed the 2 ends thru one of the holes.  Twist them together a few times and then bend them flat to the can.

Use a few pieces of duct tape to secure.

This will be underneath your sculpture so you won't see it.

Do the same with a second piece of wire.  It should look like this.

Twist the 2 wires together to form the legs and the torso.

Take a wire that is about 12 inches, bend in half and twist the ends onto the top of your torso.  This will be an arm.

Make a second arm and bend your wire armature into the position you want your figure to take.

For the head make a loop in a wire about 6 inches long and twist into place at the top of the torso.

Add a few pieces of duct tape around the torso to hold it all together.

Take some strips of paper towel and a glue/water mix (1 to1 ratio) and begin covering the armature.

Add additional strips to the areas where you want more shape. Just try to keep the mache tight on the armature.  You don't want it too bulky that might lead to the sculpture collapsing before it can dry.

For the head make a ball of mache and then wind some strips around it to adhere to the wire loop.

I left the wire exposed for the hands as I liked the look of it.

Add some strips to the base to cover the tuna can.

Let dry.  It takes about 2 days.

Paint with acrylic paint. I wanted a metallic look so I first painted the whole thing black.

I then dry brushed on some bronze paint letting some of the black show thru.  I left the face black like it was in shadow.

I also left the base black to contrast with the figure.

That's it.

You could do a whole set similar to the "Family of Man" or have each student select one figure from series and then exhibit them together.


My plan is to do this project with Grade 5 as soon as I have collected enough cans.

See you soon with another art adventure.