Paper Mache Ideas

Paper mache is very easy to make, where the waste paper that is not being used can be recycled and used for arts and crafts. Paper mache crafts can be used for various projects in school. Several creative ideas can be used to make a variety of crafts since it is a tightly held material which you can paint and mould to give any shape of your choice.

Though making mache is a very messy job, once it's prepared, making crafts from it are easy. All you have to do, is cut stripes of waste paper and wet them with water or wet paste.

Then roll them over the objects you want to paint like cardboard formations or balloons and then once it is dried, paint them with colors. It's a great exercise for kids at school as well as home, since it is a good way to bring out their creativity.

Nowadays, you get mache paste, which is a substance that holds the paper pulp together. But earlier this was done using a mixture of water and flour mixed in the same proportion to a creamy consistency. Once the paste is ready, the paper is soaked in it and laid onto a flat surface to dry slowly and gradually.

After drying, it is applied on the desired cast with the help of oil or grease and then painted. The finished works look beautiful and attractive when they are completed. Like I said, you can learn as well as teach your kids how to make these crafts.

Balloons are very often used as casts to shape many structures and then wrapped with paper mache and colored. Given below are some paper mache ideas with balloons.

Materials Needed:

• 2 balloons
• Toilet paper rolls
• Tape
• Newspaper Strips
• Flour
• Glue
• Scissor
• Card paper
• Feathers

Directions

For the Feet

• To make the feet, first take the toilet paper, roll it and flatten it into half. Make 6 such half-folded flat rolls for the toes and then tape them together from one end. Make 2 other rolls, for the foot of each leg. Thus you have 8 total toilet paper flat rolls as the feet of the duck.

• Use two large gift rolls to make the tall legs that have to connect the body to the feet.
• Tape these two legs to the feet in a uniform manner as they need to have the same length from the body.

Body and Face

• For the body, use two balloons. Tape the bigger balloon with these two legs properly so that it doesn't come off.
• Then join the smaller balloon, which is meant to be the face, with a similar gift roll. This gift roll will be the neck of the bird.

• Tape the neck to both the balloons also in the similar way to make sure that none of the balloons come off the gift roll.
• Once you've made the body and the face, make a cone out of the card paper. Tape this cone to the face to make the bird's beak.

• Make the paper mache, and then let it dry for a long time. Once it is dried paint it with the colors that you want your bird to be. Paint one set of paper mache in red color for the beak.

• With the stripes of these colored paper mache, carefully glue them to the legs first and then the beak. Make tiny cutouts of the paper mache and stick them all over the body and the face area.
• Then make the eyes for the bird and glue them on the face. Your colorful paper mache bird is ready for display.

Materials Needed:

• Large oval balloon
• Newspaper
• Paper mache paste
• Paint
• Tape

Directions

• Make the paper mache according to the procedure mentioned above.
• Dry them and then paint them in multiple colors.

• After they are dry, take the oval balloon and keep in a stable position. With the paper mache paste, stick each colored strip of paper onto the balloon.
• Use tape if the balloon doesn't stay in one place. Since the mache is dense in nature, it makes the balloon a little heavier. Once your Easter egg is made, let it dry and then display it.

Use these unique ideas for making crafts like animals, volcanoes, trees, people, and much more. You can also come up with many more such innovative ideas. Have fun!