How to Make a Paper Mache Bowl

Mary Gallagher-Stout: Hi, I am Mary Gallagher-Stout and I am showing you how to create a beautiful Paper Mache bowl and now we are at the stage where we are going to actually start Paper Maching. So I have my balloon, which is my mold. I filled it up and I have used a little masking tape to adhere it to a foundation of bowl, so it doesn't wiggle around and then it's easier for me to create the shell. I am going to use my paintbrush and the newspapers and what you want to do is, you want to take your paintbrush, dip it into the adhesive and you are going to paint one side and then the other with just a nice thin layer of adhesive. Then you are going to adhere it to your mold. You are going to use the brush to brush out any other air bubbles and you need to have a lot of patience, because it gets air bubbly and it starts to pop up. So this is one of those projects that you really need to be patient and work along with it, work with your materials because they are going to be fighting you to bubble up. So we are just going to adhere -- put the adhesive on either side and then pick it up and I like to start in the center and build out, but there is really isn't any specific method, you can put it on anyway you like and I want to usually go about, depending on the depth of your bowl, I would like to go two thirds of the way down the balloon in terms of how long I want my bowl to be. And it's just a quick layering, well it's not quick, but it's like I said you need to be patient and you need to build up about two to three layers. You don't want to put on anymore than two or three layers because it takes extremely long to dry. It usually takes a couple of hours to dry. I usually let my mache dry overnight before I add on any more layers. You can add up to -- they recommend about six to eight layers if you are going to be building a bowl, but in this case it's really up to you. It's depending on what you are using it for. If you building just a candy dish, you only need about six to eight layers and also if you are building a candy dish or something to put little objects into, you are going to want to make sure that it's covered wrapped candy because these bowls are not food safe, we are going to be painting them and they are not dish washer safe so you just need to know these are just decorative. We are just going to continue to add the sheets of newspaper on and you really don't have to even use newspaper, it's a great green project, where you can go ahead and use old computer paper, you can use craft paper, you can use whatever paper you like, that's lying around your house. That's why it's so cool. And all your molds can even be things that you find around your house, that's why it's such a great green project and it's great to do with kids because it's just gluing and adhering and they love to get their fingers sticky and wet and this will do it for them. So I am going to continue with putting on the layers of this bowl and then I am going to show you how to do the next step adhering the base to your paper mache bowl.