Yo Ho Ho me hearties!

 When I was asked to make a piñata for a pirate party I was quite excited. . It was a lot of fun to make and the little boy who it was for liked it so much that he didn't want to smash it up, he wanted to keep it so we turned it into a pull string version.

It was so nice to see his reaction because I don't often do children's piñatas, let alone see their faces when they receive them - except for my children who have seen so many they're just not that impressed.

 It did start out looking more like a Viking long boat. A lot of love, research and time went into this and the results are quite impressive, even if I do say so myself!

Papier mache courses and ideas

Whilst looking for inspiration for my latest project (the modular sofas) I came across so many amazing and interesting pieces other people have made. I've been disappointed in the books I've bought on making papier mache furniture because I'm not learning anything new from reading them so I've been looking into courses for Paper Reloved.

If you live down south (e.g. Somerset Strathclyde or Warwickshire) there are day classes here: https://www.craftcourses.com/categories/paper/papier-mache
And for the north I found this course:
https://threshingbarn.com/craft-supplies/courses/papier-mache-courses/ which as someone who lives in Yorkshire themselves, I'm very interested in.
https://www.hotcourses.com/courses/uk/papier-mach%C3%BA-courses/5922/ these seem like an amazing option but they're a little more expensive. Certainly out of my price range!

Of course I'm a big fan, and a member of PapierMache.co.uk

Of course there are also a great many online tutorials. I've been told I should make some of my own but it's something I never seem to find the time for. Being organised enough to film a project from start to finish over a long period of time is something I struggle with.

I thought keeping a list of useful links for more information would be helpful so I'm starting with this quick post.

The paper house

As I was researching papier mache techniques and ideas, which I do most days, I discovered an entire house made of paper: https://www.paperhouserockport.com/about.html

Image sourced from: http://www.factrange.com/19-strangest-buildings-in-the-world-part-1/

Elis F. Stenman began building this in 1922 and continued adding to it until 1930 when it became a museum. It even has running water as well as electricity. It was built on wooden supports and I think I remember reading somewhere that the roof is also made of wood.

Sourced from: https://www.citehr.com/180962-paper-house-rockport-jpg-download.html

Stenman rolled up newspapers (which came from all over, mostly donated by friends and neighbours) into logs about 1" thick which he cut to different lengths and glued or nailed together before covering them in varnish. He made his own glue, mostly from water and flour but he'd add his own ingredients. In one interview his niece remembers him him adding apple peel to the

mix.

Sourced from: http://www.suitcasesandsippycups.com/2012/12/the-paper-house-in-rockport-ma.html

The grandfather clock and piano work! One day I hope to pay homage in person to this amazing achievement. I wonder whether I'd feel the ghost of a kindred spirit in finding someone else who's fascinated by paper and sees it's potential. In the mean time I wanted to share it here with you. I should start sharing more of my online finds on this Paper Reloved blog.

Sourced from: http://www.suitcasesandsippycups.com/2012/12/the-paper-house-in-rockport-ma.html

Living in the living room

I have a house inspection coming up in four days time and this is what my living room looks like. In theory the chairs will make up a modular sofa which can be moved around to suit whatever I'm working on or whoever is visiting at the time.

I've noticed that a lot of the projects I've looked up show people working in studios or out of a spare room, I also keep reading how someone's lovely husband bought them wonderful gifts for their birthday to help with the aforementioned projects.

So I wanted to show that it is possible to do from a little terrace house as a single mum. This is where Paper Reloved takes place and yes it drives me nuts at times like this when we're fighting over the one finished chair and there's incomplete projects everywhere and this isn't even the half of it! There isn't a single room that doesn't have projects hanging in it or stuffed in random places.

It is doable but it's a big commitment and a nightmare. I guess if I lived with another adult I'd have to make more effort to keep a certain standard of living! At the moment we're all fighting over who gets to sit on the computer chair and who gets the pile of cushions. My children seem to just accept this is how it is, although I know my eldest will be happier when it's finished. She says it would be strange to live in a house with the kind of mum who kept things organised and together. I'd like to live in that house! The kitchen is just as bad. There's pans, bags and buckets of pulp in various stages of completion, a brick maker on the side with half made as well as broken bricks piled up on the table and paper splattered everywhere. It's only to be expected when you find random objects covered in glue or cling film.


I'm hoping the chairs will be finished to the point where they can be sat on in the next couple of days. It's difficult living with someone who upon finding out they have a house inspection looming decides to turn the stacks or random scrap paper we've just had donated into pulp, which is wet and has to be used up quickly. So I'll be trying to use up a chunk of it tonight in the hopes that the next two days are sunny and we get caught up!

So I'd better stop playing around on here and get my hands dirty! Although I'm tempted to take more before and after pictures.

Tracy the Papersaurus or Recyclesaurus.

I took the second dinosaur into school today. The kids were going to call it Theresa to go with the other one who's called Terry but apparently Theresa May has spoilt it for them.They decided on Tracy instead but Tina was a close second.

I've decided to donate these dinosaurs to the school instead of renting them out in exchange for paper. We simply don't have the storage space at the moment.

The class teacher has decided to keep it in her office instead of having one in both year 3 class rooms so we'll see how that works out. Hopefully I'll get the other three finished and ready to put into schools over the summer holidays. I don't think I can cope with having more dinosaurs than that around the house!

I started rushing this one so it crumpled under its own wight a little. I managed to fix most of it but one of it's feet is a bit bent. No one aside from me seems to be able to tell. The grand plan was to give it a crutch or crutches. I've seen a few children with them at the school and I thought it would be a nice touch. Unfortunately life got in the way and I ran out of time. Plus my youngest daughter was very keen to take it in and show it off. I wasn't so keen on taking on the mile long walk to the school with another heavy dinosaur.

Perhaps it is for the best that the project is moving more slowly than I originally planned or would like as it means I am forced to spend more time thinking it through. Not that I haven't been thinking about this for a long time, it's just that my dreams are far bigger than my resources.


Still, in the mean time it's bringing a lot of joy to kids and amusement to parents (not as much amusement as the pink elephant incident but that's a whole other story). I live on a main road and I've been putting things out to dry in the front 'garden'.

I heard a small boy walk past demanding to know where the dinosaur had gone. I got the bit I was working on finished and hid it in the bushes so he'd see it when he came past again but I didn't hear anything. I'm sure there will be plenty of other creatures as time goes on but clearly dinosaurs are the coolest (apart from dragons obviously).

Papier mache camper van (VW Kombi)

This is a wedding card box I made back in 2011. It was strong enough for my daughter (who was a toddler at the time) to use as a play house whilst it was being built. Every part was built separately and then stuck together. From what I remember it took me a couple of months to build.

 The couple I made it for were lovely and even sent me pictures of it at their wedding. It was made to match their camper van. Right down to their custom made wheel cover.

 

 It is one of my favourite projects. Not only because of the way it looked when completed but because it was such a challenge when I was first starting up. There was a steep learning curve and it took more patience and dedication that anything else I've made because this is the project that left me feeling like I could actually do this! I've learnt a lot more since then and worked on more skilled projects, as well as other camper vans but I will always have a soft spot for this one.

Finishing this camper van was definitely one of the moments when I really understood the potential for working with paper and started thinking about branching out into making more than piñatas. I guess this was the project that inspired Paper Reloved!

Teapot piñata

We have been asked to make a few mad hatters tea party themed piñatas, as well as Alice's adventures in wonderland ones! From mad hats to giant pocket watches to tea pots. I have to say that the Russian Samovar inspired tea pot was my favourite. One day I'm going to own a Samovar of my very own! We got extremely distracted by looking at pictures of them!

The more western style tea pot was a bit of a rush job made within two days for a local event. We've made lots of better teapots but often missed opportunities to take advantage of them. The best one was a prize at the pinatafest but unfortunately our designated photographer was distracted by the entertainment.

The Samovar inspired teapot was actually flown to Russia for a party there. The buyer sent some wonderful pictures of their party (Although we'd all prefer to have been there in person!).

Rainbow zebra pinata

 This piñata was made for a wedding that took place in Ibiza. It's based on piñata boys design http://pinataboy.com/makeazebra.html although it was made so that the whole of the head and body are hollow. 

I had several people come out to take photographs when I went out to take mine and as we live on a main road a lot of [what I choose to interpret] as admiring looks. I thought it was stunning and quite miss it. If i ever have the time and space I can definitely see me making another for display purposes.

Papier mache chair, sofa or settee

 It took me over two years to finish this chair. That includes me drop kicking parts of it into the cellar for six months at a time and threatening to throw it into the recycle bin. Oh, and having a bit of a cry when its legs were broken off whilst it was still drying, as well as when it was dropped and bent out of shape. I'm not sure yet how happy I am about it being part of our home yet. Having spent so long building and repairing it, only to find a crack across the seat just after celebrating a year of it being used and abused in our home without getting damaged is a bit disheartening to say the least!

Like all the papier mache furniture I've made it's not turned out anything like I originally envisioned. It was meant to be a computer chair and rotate on wheels. Unfortunately I couldn't find a computer chair base that would take the weight of two adults.

Apparently it's technically a love seat as it's too small to be a two seater sofa but too big to be an ordinary chair!

The texture is that of most modern pulp furniture. It wasn't going to be red either. I was offered a box of old music sheets from someone's garage but haven't received them yet so I used up some red scrap paper left over from piñata making.




It's not quite finished yet. It needs some mould proofing (in this case I'll be spraying it with natural antibacterial agents) and then varnishing. In the mean time it's a usable seat in a house where there's often a fight for furniture!

I am already working on other pulp furniture projects but I'm struggling to get hold of any more shredded paper. I like the feeling of knowing the materials I've used have been rescued from a landfill. So far I've used around 15 litres of PVA and 15 bags of shredded paper.

Poo Sticks

Painted background, brown pulp tree and hand made flowers. My daughter (who was 4 at the time ) said I should call it poo sticks because that's what it looked like when I was making the tree. It's now proudly hung in our bathroom. It's been there a few years. Despite several people telling me a paper canvas would fall apart in the bathroom it hasn't. Funny that. [although I wasn't willing to be too smug until I'd tried and tested the theory] .

This pic doesn't show the colours well. I'll add updating it to my ever expanding to do list!

I have made several other pulp canvases since. Many of which may be hanging up in the bathrooms of friends of mine...