Saturday, March 30, 2013

Paper Mache

Here are a couple of photos of our recent Paper Mache  artwork...more to come!





Make it a Wonderful Day!

5 comments:

  1. I'm loving all these art ideas! Thank you for sharing. I teach art too and am always looking for new projects. Thank you so much!

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  2. I'd love to know how you made your animal shapes with the kids. I'm trying some paper mache projects with different classes (I teach PreK-5th) but I am very new to it. The masks we're working on are sort of a disaster:-( I know this post was a while ago but I'd love any tips. Thanks!

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    1. Hi! Coincidentally, I'm doing paper mache with my Art Club kids this week! These animals were made by older students, grade 4-6. I allowed them to make whatever they wanted from the supplies I brought. (Boxes, tp rolls, etc. The animals in the last photo started from tp tubes, the heads may have been styrofoam balls or crumpled foil. Legs are thread spools or corks. We use a LOT of masking tape to secure everything and then cover with the torn paper dipped in thinned white glue. We spent at least 2 hours building and layering the paper mache, another hour painting. Hope that helps.

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    2. Wow, that helps a lot because I thought they were much bigger and I love the idea of using corks since I actually have them. I teach Art in a small elementary school in Oakland and my classes are around 25 kids each so smaller figures are probably better for us. What is your preferred paper? I used a thin drawing paper and white printer paper because I thought the white paper would be easier to paint over (without having to prime first) but the paper didn't seem to stick or mold well to the masks and I had to tear it off. Also, what paint did you use? I notice it's nice and shiny! Sorry for all of the question, I've looked everything up on the internet but you get so many different ideas it's hard to know which one to try or what really works. Thank you for sharing your experience!

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    3. Kristen, I've tried other papers too, but newspaper seems to work the best, and we try to avoid using newspaper with lots of color photos. The colored ink doesn't allow for the glue to soak in as well. I've used white paper towel for the last layer a couple of times, but mostly just newspaper. We use acrylic paints- I try and schedule 2 class times for painting- one to get the whole thing covered, the next week, add details. They are super shiny because I spray them all with Triple Thick Spray varnish. It really makes them look more finished. (But I take them all home to spray in my garage wearing a respirator mask. Lots of work….) :D Let me know how yours go!

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