Friday, October 28, 2011

Installation of the Papier Mache Tree


What a project!  
We started it about a month ago and it is great to see it come together. 

(The banquet hall is not decorated yet so more pictures to follow after tomorrow.)



Here is just a taste.
Pictures don't do it justice. 

You can not see how 3-dimensional it is and stand in it's "shade".

Decorating the rest of the fellowship hall is tomorrow morning to make it look like a Fiesta!

Check back in for more.
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Thursday, October 20, 2011

Papier Mache Tree Nearing Completion

The tree is nearly completed and moving day is Saturday to go to it's new location.

The tree is nearly nine feet tall and varies in width but probably averaging about 28 in. diameter for the main trunk.  I made about seven branches that will be suspended from the ceiling and leaves and moss will help fill in.  The decorating will begin on Saturday to be completed in the next few days.  Hopefully, next Friday I will have pictures of the completed job!
Can't wait!


I let the students "carved" their names on the tree.  They thought that was so much fun.

 Tomorrow all of my students are beginning their papier mache pumpkins starting from a balloon.  I have instructions on my previous post. 


See my previous post on how to make papier mache pumpkins. 
Quick and easy! 

Painted Not Really Carved




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Monday, October 17, 2011

Halloween Fun/Papier Mache and Homemade Candy Corn


Fall hit finally in South Texas.  We had rains and the night air is actually cooled down and mornings are foggy with heavy dews.  I think that is cause for celebration!

It is hard to ignore all the fun times that come along with the changing seasons and coming holidays when you are surrounded by adorable and I must say, easy-to-impress children.  So I decided to surprise the little ones with a small, hollow, papier mache pumpkin filled with candy for Halloween.  And it is so simple to make.

I started with a 6 inch balloon blown up.  I wrapped twine tightly around it to form the divisions in the pumpkin.  I mixed up flour, salt and water to make a paste like a thin pancake batter.  Using my fingers I wet the balloon with the flour paste then applied strips of dry newspaper over the paste, wetting over the top of the paper with more flour paste until the newspaper was wet and would lay flat.  Continue adding layers.  The more layers the harder the finished product will be when it dries.  I usually try to get between 10 or 12 layers of newspaper but less would work fine.  I squeezed a little of the long strips up to make a stem and then wrapped the paper around it when I got several pieces gathered together to make a fair size stem end. 

At this point patience is a necessity!  DO NOT PUT THIS IN THE OVEN TO DRY!  If you do the heat will expand the balloon inside and the pumpkin will pop like popcorn!  Don't ask me how I know this!  Let's just say....I know.  It may dry overnight or it might take a little longer but be patient, it will dry.  I try to put cleaner paper on for the last paper so I do not have lots of black paper showing through but I am not a stickler about it.  It will just add more texture to the surface of the pumpkin if you have a little bit of text on the paper.  I finished my pumpkin using one full sheet of orange tissue paper, tearing it into strips and applying it so it overlapped and kept adding layers to build up color.  Pictured is my pumpkin with orange tissue paper but it has not had a finish put on it and my stem is still just newsprint.  You can finish the pumpkin by spraying with a polyurethane, coat with an acrylic medium or even a thinned down white glue.

Well, the fun did not end with papier mache.  We had fun making Homemade Candy Corn.  The kids loved making the candy and everyone loved how they tasted.  The recipe is posted on our family blog Thyme Together



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