Effortless Paper Mache Acorn
You will learn how to form
recycled newspaper into a acorn, cover with paper mache, paint, and protect.
This paper mache
project is super easy, cheap, and great for someone wanting to learn the
awesome art of paper mache.
We hope to be a spring board to get you started and
encourage you to tweak, change the acorn up all you want.
Stuff List
Recycled
Newspaper
Masking
Tape
Paper
Mache Paste
Paints
and Paint Brushes
Paper
Clay (Optional)
H20
and Rags
Steps
to Make Your Acorn Sculpture
Begin by wading up newspaper into a teardrop shape
using tape to hold into place. Slide your acorn teardrop into a plastic bag.
To form the cap (top) of the acorn wade up
newspaper, press this down flat, and lay over the top of your acorn. The cap
will come down the sides just a bit. Place the cap into a bag and glue the
acorn body and cap together.
Make a stem by rolling up cardboard and taping onto
the top of the cap.
2
Paper Mache and Paper Clay
1st Session
Cover the acorn
armature with 3 to 4 layers of newspaper using your hands soaked in paper mache
paste. Lay your paper flat onto your acorn and work out all air bubbles. As you
continue to apply layers of paper onto your armature your acorn will begin to
take shape before your eyes. Never give up you can do this.
Once you have covered
your acorn with paper mache they must completely dry. Lay
them out in the sun if you can for faster drying, they will take at least 24
hours to dry depending on the size of your acorn.
Tip: If you feel that
your sculpture is strong enough you can skip to step 3 painting your acorn
sculpture.
Paper Clay or Paper Mache
You Choose
2nd
Session
For this session you
have two choices; paper clay or paper mache. Both mediums are wonderful and
will render a perfect acorn sculpture. The 2 best benefits to using the paper
clay vs. paper mache are time and toughness. Both recipes are on the channel; please
do check them out.
We will walk through
both paper mache and paper clay finishing process.
Paper
Mache: Cover
with 4 to 5 more layers of paper mache all at one time. Let it completely dry
before moving on. If your acorn does not seem tough enough add more paper
mache. After each session of paper mache your sculpture must completely dry
before moving to your next step. Awesome, guys get excited to see your acorn take shape.
Quick Link to Paper
Mache Paste Recipe: http://goo.gl/BH5lgM
Paper Clay:
Cover
the entire acorn with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch layer of paper clay, doing one side
at a time and letting that completely dry. Apply the #paperclay with your hands
and smooth with paper mache paste, butter knife, etc. You can let your paper
clay dry for about 6 or more hours and then smooth more with paste.
We are still learning and experimenting with the paper
clay for better results every day.
The
size of your acorn will determine how long it will take to dry. A large acorn
will take approximately 3 to 4 days to dry, the paper clay takes longer to dry
than you think so don't rush it, wait an extra day before painting for caution.
You
can use a fan, the sun, and the oven on the lowest temperature it will allow. Our
oven can go as low as 145 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a perfect temperature
for slowly drying your paper clay, we will place it in the oven over night and
pull out doesn't do well in the closed oven when off. Also, if you heat your
clay to fast it can turn dark brown in the oven which is okay because you will
cover with primer paint.
Paper
Clay Recipe: http://goo.gl/xoTFbJ
Question: Can I skip the paper mache and put paper clay
directly onto my armature?
Answer: Yes, yes you can if your armature can support
the weight of the paper clay without the support of the paper mache strips and
paste.
If you need once the acorn has dried you can lightly
sand with sandpaper and wipe off before painting.
3. Paint Your Acorn Sculpture
Paint a white coat of primer paint on your acorn this
will give you a white canvas for painting. We use white flat interior house
paint to prime the surface our sculptures.
Once the primer coat as dried paint with acrylics
anyway you like. I begin with the darkest color and work my way to the lightest
color shade. Color is fun and you can't mess up, anything goes.
Let all you paint completely dry before sealing with
varnish.
Varnishing (Protecting)
You
must seal your paper mache pieces with varnish for protection against moisture.
Brush on 3 to 4 coats of varnish and let it completely dry. Varnish also comes
in a spray can but takes so much to cover your pieces I prefer to brush.
Follow the instructions on your varnish to apply. We
brush on Polyacrylic Minwax at the studio to varnish all our art. The gloss
enhances our paint job.
Acorn
Wrap Up
This is just one way to make an acorn, hope you will
use it to create your own acorn sculpture and of course share with the studio.
Thank you for stopping by the studio please
subscribe before you leave and have a great day.
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whimsypapermache.com 2015