Mushrooms, Magic and Paper Mache

Hi friends! I am excited to be back after a fabulous, week long vacation in Northern California. It was a perfect distraction coming off a pretty noteworthy week. Happy to say, I did art and crafts ALL week long (as well as some junkin’) with my amazingly, uber-talented friend, Brenda Walton.  We got so much accomplished and were treated like queens because her husband, Doug, made sure we had everything we needed.  How nice was that?  Honestly, we had so much we wanted to do but were giddy to just hang out together. After making some felted headbands, watercolor cards and an Easter banner, we finally settled on making some paper mâché mushrooms.  What makes them so “magical” is that we watched countless videos (there may have been some giggling involved) from several people showing us their “ideal” mushrooms before we decided to toss them all and create our own “magic”.   Here’s the step-by-step tutorial with the supplies listed at the end of the post. We promise no blowing up balloons or tying knots from napkins.

To form the cap of the mushrooms, I cut circles from poster board. You can use a punch or a circle die-cut. I hand-cut them with scissors. Make sure to cut all different sizes.  I then cut a slice out of each one, kind of like a piece of pie, approximately 1/8 of the circle. I adhered those ends together to form the rounded, dimensional mushroom cap. The ones at the front of the picture with the seams are those hand-cut mushrooms.  The small mushrooms in the back are actually acorn caps!  Pretty clever, eh?

To paper mâché all of the caps and the acorns, we used tissue paper and a paper mâché paste made from Elmer’s art paste. This glue comes in powder form and, when combined with water, makes into a clear gel. I loved using this for adhesive. It dries clear and sticks very well but ironically, is not sticky. I ordered it online here and I highly recommend it.

I used my fingers to apply the glue to the front and back of the mushroom caps, making sure to add several layers of tissue to conceal the seam. For the stems on the small mushrooms,  we used tissue-covered wire and…Q-tips, for the large mushrooms. 🙂 We removed one end of the Q-tip in order to adhere it to the inside of the mushroom. Hot glue was perfect for attaching the stems.

For the larger mushrooms I decided I wanted to put some mini-pleated paper up into the inside. Fortunately, Brenda had some vintage, pleated paper and it was perfect. However, a mini-baking cup would do the same thing! Cut a strip that will fit inside the cap. It’s ok if it overhangs a bit. You can trim it up later. Adhere the two ends together. Create a rosette by drawing the center in tight, placing some hot glue into the peak of the cap and squeezing the rosette in snug until the glue cools. I adhered some of the edges to the poster board cap too!

Now you’re ready to paint!

I used a red paint by Golden but you can use any acrylic paint of your choice. Remember to go back and add polka dots!

I like a more realistic mushroom so I added some watered-down golden brown to the inside of the mushroom cap and on into the top of the stem. For variation, try adding a ruffle of crepe paper or newsprint into the center of the stem.  Super cool!

And here we have our collective arrangement…

It’s showtime! These make me happy!

Supplies:

Poster Board
White Tissue Paper
Elmer’s Art Paste
Q-Tips
Wire
Red, White, Golden Brown Acrylic Paint
Small Paintbrush
Mini Cupcake liner or Vintage Corrugated Paper
Hot Glue Gun and Glue

Optional: Newsprint or Crepe Paper

Well, what did you think? Easy? Hoping you learned something new and that you begin making a bouquet of your own!

XO,

Debi