Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Paper Mache Flowers

I'm always trying to find new recycled crafts and one thing we have in abundance is shredded paper.  I've made recycled paper and used it in gift bags, but I thought papier mache would be a nice new use. I saw these adorable egg carton flowers and got an idea - papier mache flowers using plastic easter eggs as molds. This is a several day craft.
I made the glue with one cup water, one cup flour and blended (Chiquita helped measure the wheat to grind into flour and we had to take a sweeping break).  Then since our shredder cuts the paper really small I just dumped the paper in and  got a nice glob and formed it over the easter eggs, smoothing as much as I could. 
This would be really fun to do with a 4 + yr old but my 20 month old didn't really get the concept.  You could have a nice messy sensory activity though if you want!
When we had enough I set them out to dry and the next day...
...We painted them!  Again Chiquita didn't have a lot of patience, she painted one and got bored, but she had lots of fun with shaking glitter all over them!!
Again they had to dry and then I trimmed around the edges.  Next I poked holes in them with a needle and threaded on pipe cleaners.  Here I learned that you want to make your flowers as delicate as possible or use wood sticks because they can be heavy!  I put them in an empty olive oil, tied on a ribbon and now I have flowers all year long!







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