PAPER MACHE PLANTS

My boys and I have cabin fever.  It has been too cold for too long.  This weekend I ignored my chores and focused instead on creating an activity that would keep us busy.

I stumbled upon the image below via Pinterest.  Apparently, what you see here are Paper Plant Character studies by Adam Frezza and Terri Chaio. I know, right. #genius

It was just the inspiration we needed to dive into a project.

We started with wire hangers. We bent them by hand into plant like shapes and stuck them into foam.  Then we covered the wire with aluminum foil and then paper mache. We let the paper mache dry over night.  The next day we painted them.  It was that easy.

Designed and painted by our neighbor, Lucia (age 12)

Designed and painted by Douglas (Age 13)

This last one was a joint effort by me and Alex.  We plan to give it to Granny for Valentine’s Day.  Shhhhh.

This was our first attempt. We hope to make many more.  Well worth the little effort involved.

DYEING

I’m curious about tie-dyeing and natural dyeing.  I recently purchased TIE-DYE by Shabd.  My boys and I have done some simple tie-dye projects in the past.  This book will help us attempt some more challenging projects.

I’m also curious about natural dyes.  I checked out Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess from my local library.

I’m particularly interested in this project called Spring Dye Starter.  Basically you get a sample of blossoms, place them under prepared fabric and whack it with a mallet. <see below> Let the fabric dry and then iron it to help it set. The dyed fabric swatch would make a precious keepsake or a lovely wrap for a tiny gift, tied up with string.   This project hits that sweet spot where kids would have fun and be learning at the same time.

simplicity pattern gif

Maybe my favorite animated gif ever. via Creative Bug.  via Here.