Paper Mache Bowl

This one was intended for decorative use only.

We used our basic pulp recipe, a shallow plastic bowl as a mould (mold) and some cling film (saran wrap) as a release agent.

For decoration we used white household emulsion, some blue aquarium gravel as well as blue and green acrylic paint.

How we made it

First of all line the inside of the bowl with the cling film. This is just to stop your project sticking to the mould.

Next spread a thin layer of pulp all over the inside of the bowl. Smooth it down with your fingers until it's nice and even. We love getting our hands in the squishy stuff, but if you don't like the feel of the pulp you could use gloves to handle it.

Now the boring bit. Leave the bowl to dry out thoroughly. This is important because if you take the bowl out of the mould too soon, it could warp or fall apart. Once it's dry add a second layer of pulp to add strength. We work in layers because the pulp dries quicker and is less likely to warp or rot.

For this project we removed it from the mould, placed the cling film over the outside of the bowl and put our project over the top of it before adding the second layer. We did this because our bowl had a relief pattern on it, which we didn't want on this work.

Once it's completely dry, prime it with a couple of coats of white household emulsion. This gives a good base to decorate your work. Let it dry between each coat as the pulp will soak up some of the moisture of the paint and become slightly soggy again.

How we decorated it

Of course, you can decorate your paper mache bowl any way you like, but if you want one just like ours, here's how we did it.

First we gave the entire bowl two coats of blue acrylic paint, allowing it to dry completely between each one. Next we coated the inside of the bowl with a layer of undiluted white PVA glue and filled the whole bowl with aquarium gravel.

We left the gravel in it for two days to be absolutely sure the glue was dry. When we tipped it out, the inside of the bowl was covered in a layer of the blue gravel. Just to add a bit of interest, we then gave it a diluted wash of the blue and green acrylic.

Because we used acrylic paint, which is fairly durable, we didn't use a varnish to seal this piece. You might want to give yours a coat of varnish, which would give it extra protection and make the pebbles less vulnerable to knocks and dings. We have noticed a couple of ours have fallen off.

Here's the finished article.

New! Comments

©2010 Creative Paper Mache

SBI!