Paper Mache' Bowl

Paper Mache' Bowl

Back to more useful uses for newspapers in the recycling mode. This bowl is big enough to hold a very large sleeping cat curled into a pretty tight ball ....and often does. I was thinking of the coil method of pottery making and I used rounds of twisted newspapers to form the coils and the basic shape. Part of its charm is the off kilter shape that happened because I free-formed the coils of newspaper. I wrapped a circle on itself for the bottom and then added more lengths of twisted newspaper to form up the sides. I taped everything loosely together and then applied bigger pieces of newspaper over the coils to form the outer surface. Once it was all dry ( it didn't take too long because the twists of newspaper aren't as dense as solidly packed paper mache'.)..... I primed it with gesso and used a simple square stencil to put the teal squares over the darker green base coat. The gold band at the top and some gold accents inside and out finished it off! Cats of all shapes and sizes have claimed it as their own.....