Make gorgeous Paper Mache Bowls for Mother’s Day, and paint them in vibrant colours with acrylics paints:

I had it in my head last week that we would make paper mache bowls for the Hooligans to give as Mother’s Day gifts, but never in my wildest dreams did I think they would turn out this well!

This really was easy, and it’s an inexpensive (read: free) way to make a gift that’s absolutely gorgeous.

It does require a bit of time though, because the paper mache has to dry completely before you can paint it, so we worked in steps and stages over a couple of days to make these.

Here’s how we did it:

I dug a few plastic bowls out of our camping gear, and covered them with plastic wrap (tape your plastic wrap in place to secure). I’ve also heard you can cover your bowls with a thin layer of petroleum jelly. Personally, I thought the plastic wrap sounded like the easier method. This step is necessary so that you can release your paper mache bowl from your plastic one once it’s dry.

I mixed up a “paper mache paste” using about a cup of flour and some water. Just add enough water, and whisk smooth until you have something that resembles thin pancake batter or wallpaper paste. I added a couple of tsps of salt to prevent mold from growing.

You can use cut up strips of construction paper or newspaper or paper bags. We used paper bags.

Dip your strips into the paste, run the strip through your fingers to remove excess paste, and mould the strip to the bowl. Continue until your bowl is covered.

I set the bowls upside down over some jars, and set them by the fire for 24 hours. They were fairly fragile when they were dry so we added another 2 layers of strips of the paper pieces, and let them dry for another day or two. When I was certain that they were completely dry, we popped them off the plastic bowls, and I cleaned up the edges with some scissors where necessary.Today the colourful, creativie fun began Each Hooligan chose a colour for the outside of their bowl and a different colour for the inside, and they set to work painting them up. I left their colour choices completely up to them wanting each of them to have the opportunity to use whatever colour scheme they desired. We used acrylic craft paint and a blast with the hairdryer had them dry in no time.

Then they decorated them with their choices of accent colours. Another blast with the hairdryer and they were ready for a coat of sealant. I brushed a coat of clear craft sealant over the inside and the outside of the bowls, and they dried quickly.

And just LOOK at them! Aren’t they gorgeous?!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you amazing moms out there! Have a wonderful day!

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