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How to Make Awesome Maracas from Rubbish

Paper Mache Homemade Maracas

finished maracs1. Make your maraca armature

Narrow one end of my toilet paper roll by cutting half way up the roll and pulling the sides close together, leaving the other end alone.

Now Place the socket end of the light bulb into the open end of your toilet paper roll. You can use masking tape to hold it in place.

2. Paper Mache

maracs with stripsYou will now cover your maraca armature with at least 15 layers of paper mache strips. If you are new to paper mache here is a link to the paste recipe.  You will let your armature completely dry before moving forward, it will need overnight to dry.

It is important that you cover the entire armature with the paper strips. If you feel you need to add more do so before breaking your bulb.

3. Break the Light Bulb

Snapshot 9 (10-18-2012 2-19 PM)Time to break your light bulb, the broken pieces trapped inside the paper mache will make the rattle noise when you shake your maraca.

To break the light bulb, hold onto the toilet paper roll and hit the light bulb end of the maraca on a hard surface. We used the floor of the studio and it worked beautifully. (I learned you don't use a hammer.)

You want to hit it as lightly as possible to get it to break; the main goal is to break the light bulb without smashing the paper mache.

If you do crack your maraca while breaking the bulb, carefully cover with a few strips or masking tape.

4. Paint and Play

painting maracsAwesome Job! You are ready to add paint to your maracas.

The paper mache maracas are so much fun to create and sturdy enough to keep for many celebrations to come.

Maraca Materials

marac materialsRecycled Cardboard

Recycled Light bulbs

Recycled Newspaper & Paper Mache Paste

Masking Tape

Scissors

Paints and Paint Brushes

Varnish Optional

 

 

Maraca Art Wrap Up

shake a maracaIf you have any questions or comments concerning the steps I used to create my Maracas, post them here or on our FB page and I will gladly answer. For the history of Maracas visit Wikipedia.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel/WhimsyMacheGirl for up to date DIY paper mache videos, from the Whimsy-iest Studio on the Internet.

Thank you for stopping by the studio I look forward to seeing you again.

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