Papier-mâché Dinosaur and Lion Masks

More Papier-mâché. This time the boys wanted to make dinosaur and lion masks.

Like the puppy mask, we covered half of the balloon and let it dry. We then cut out cardboard shapes to form the frill. I taped them on with masking tape and the boys covered it with more glue and paper to ensure a lasting frill. We used twisted pieces of newspaper taped on to form the lower horn and covered them with more glue and paper.

Now to leave the mask to dry after all of these additions (perhaps 3 days as it is winter), all that is left is for me to cut out the eyes and let the boys paint it in the colour of their choice. We might leave the painting until the weather is a little warmer.

The Lion mask is much simpler. It simply consists of making the basic mask shape out of papier-mâché, cutting eyes out, painting and drawing on the nose/mouth. Once that is done the mane is made out of two different colours of crepe paper cut into strips and glued or stapled on. All that is left to do now is attach some string so it can be worn as a mask.

Since masks and dress-ups are popular in our house I might as well start the boys on making a whole collection of mask shells for the next time they want to make one. It would be much simpler to pull out a pre-made shell.

(days have passed) and now we have our painted mask!

Papier-mâché Hot Air Balloon

The glue recipe I use are 1 part flour to 5 parts water. I mix the flour with an equal amount of water first to get rid of the lumps before I add the rest of the water. I then heat it up in a pot on the stove until the mixture thickens. Since we tend to complete our papier-mâché over a few days, I usually add a few spoons of salt to the mix and store it in the fridge.

This was another occasion when we found that the balloons were piling up around the house again. We decided to do some papier-mâché, and covered the balloon. We weren't really sure of what we were going to make with it, but we had a few days between covering the balloon and it drying completely to work out. It just so happened that the hot air balloon festival coincided with this project, so the boys settled on making a hot air balloon. Rummaging around in the craft cupboard turned up a basket I had started to make and was unhappy with the result, so  I had abandoned. It would be perfect for the basket of the balloon.

When the shell of the balloon was dry, I divided the balloon up into 8 segments and left the boys to paint it. They took it in turns painting their segments. Once it was dry we attached the basket with scraps of wool and the boys made little people to travel in it. The balloon has been on all sorts of adventures with the boys. 

Papier-mâché Puppy Mask

Does anyone else find that balloons start piling up in their house? I do. Every time I go to the mall or Bunnings we end up with another 2 balloons. Then when we have a birthday party there are even more balloons to add to the growing collection. These linger forlornly around the house until they pop or I get sick of them. I always feel guilty if I have to bin them, so I while there are balloons in the house I collect newspapers for papier mâché.

I started Christopher covering one balloon with paper and glue, when a little tug on my leg reminded me that there was another boy who didn't want to be left out. A second smaller balloon was found and the boys happily covered the balloons with paper strips. It wasn't long before the boys gave up and left the balloons to finish the next day.

To make this puppy mask we used 1 large and 1 small balloon. When the balloons had received 2 days worth of attention and 4 days of drying (the middle of winter is possibly not the best time to do this) we were able to begin constructing our mask.

When they were completely dry we popped the balloons inside and trimmed the larger shell into a nicely shaped mask. We marked the places for the eyes and cut out 2 circles. Now we used the second smaller shell to tape on as a nose. Some more paper strips and glue to hold it in place and we left it to dry for another day.

Now to paint the mask. This seemed to be the most difficult decision yet - do we want a back puppy or a golden one? In the end we settled on black to match the only felt to be found in my cupboard. Christopher cut out the ears while James painted. Christopher also found a small ball of black wool for the nose. Once the paint dried we attached the ears and nose with glue and some string to hold the mask in place.

Time to go and play.