Papier Macheniacs: Plague Doctor Mask Made Easy

Very, very late post! The past few weeks have been insane! But we, Papier Macheniacs, still managed to squeeze in one very crucial project.
Ok, 'crucial' is such a big word. But Miro needed a mask to spook a friend on his birthday so here it is...

I AM THE PLAGUE DOCTOR!

This was so much fun making. It's even more fun that we made it using the most common household items. Paper plates, an empty tissue roll, and cellophane-wrapped polvoron! The polvoron we ate during break time. :)

How did we make such a spazztastic transformation? Pretty easy, really.

First, we did the measuring. Eye holes and breathing holes are always important in mask-making... for obvious reasons. Miro just wrapped a paper plate around his face and put pencil mark guides on where we should cut out the appropriate holes.

Second, the beak. There's a variety of plague doctor beaks out there, but we decided to go with something that resembled that of a hawk's or a falcon's. All it took were 2 plates rolled and taped into cones. And then we taped them together to keep the whole beak sturdy. The A-line cut should be the bottom part of your beak because that's where you breathe.

TA-DAH!

Next, the straps. Now we wanted straps with a little give so it won't rip with repeated use. We used folded news paper strips for these. Then, we papier mached everything together.

Looking pretty plaguey already, eh?

A little focus on the eyes here. Remember the polvoron we ate earlier? We used the red cellophanes for the goggles, for that extra creepy touch we all aspire for in spooking dear friends. We also painted the
insides of the goggles red so that the whole creepiness reflects beautifully. Oh, and just in case you didn't notice --the goggles are made out of cut tissue roll.

Just a little bit of original painted design touches and --there you have it! Who needs Halloween when you have everyday to creep your friends out? 

Needless to say, my boy Miro's evil birthday plot was a spooky success! :)

See how easy that went? I dare you to make your own Plague Doctor mask today.

Papier Macheniacs: The Topping Dead

WHEEEE!  WHAT CUTIEEEES!!!
Oh, but they're more than that.  Lately, we've been pushing our recycling projects to become something more practical and reusable.  Remember Lego Keeper Gunther? :)

So today, we've come up with Papier Mache toppers --a sticky tribute to our Top 1 Favorite TV series of all time, The Walking Dead.  Surprisingly, this TWD project isn't the least bit bloody to make.

First, check your trash.  You see that big empty tissue roll?  That's your main ingredient.  Carefully cut the tube into three equal parts.

Embellish!  All you need is newspaper sculpted into hair and hats.

Off to the fun part --weapons.  Itsy bitsy, tiny ones!  You're gonna use a ton of tape, believe me.

Then, papier mache like the wind!  Gluing tissue to a tissue roll --ah, the irony! :P
Oh, you better make sure you get a good, strong double layer on these babies, by the way.  You're leaving the middle part hollow.  So you'll need strength on the body's frame itself.

Paint.  My boys insisted on Season 1 Rick Grimes.  Because "he's cooler in a sheriff outfit!".

Now, top 'til you drop!

Here's Rick as a pen sorter.  If you're hopelessly OC like me, you'd like to categorize your markers in the marker bin.  Uh-huh.

Daryl as a bottle topper.  Ok, no functional value there but it does make a simple water bottle look nice and badass.  Lol!

Michonne as a paint jar hider.  Because we'd rather cover up our paint jar messes than wash them off.  Eh, who needs clean paint jars anyway!

Hey, here's a plus!  These Walking Dead characters are swell space savers, too.  They stack up perfectly as a neat totem pole for pack-away time.  With the number of papier mache figures this family churns out on a weekly basis, yeah, space savers are very welcomed.

There!  Did we inspire you to get the family together for a night of TP-ing over TWD reruns?  If we did, we're proud to say you're on your way to a TOPtastic day.  (Yay us!)

See more photos of our TWD project on Papier Macheniacs.

Family Project Weekend: DIY Bouncy Ball!

See this?  It's Jupiter.  It bounces.  And we made it. :)

Family Project Weekend came in a bit early because of this snazzy little science project we got from FullyBooked:  Weird Science's Bouncy Ball Factory!  It holds so much promise! :P

Actually, it holds two halves of a plastic orb and 4 packets of colored crystallized powder.  You gotta admit, how all these can possibly become a ball that bounces is intriguing.

Step 1:  We snapped the two halves of the plastic orb to form a vessel of sorts.  The ball-shaped thingy has a funnel on top and tiny, pinpoint holes all around its body.  For what is a mysteryyyy...

Step 2:  FUN!  We poured the crystallized powder in.  A word of warning to OC moms, this is gonna be messy.

Step 3:  We mixed in the colors to form a Jupiteresque pattern for our future ball.  Because planets bounce in our world. Uh-huh.  A little shake gave us a more compact sphere.

Step 4:  Then we submerged our powder-filled orb in water.  We let it stand in that little pool for 3 minutes.  Your container doesn't have to be microwave-safe, of course.  Lol!

Step 5:  We pulled it out and --here's the tough part-- waited for the crystals in the orb to harden.  That's like 5 minutes of hard time for my impatient little scientists.  Painful, painful hard time. 

Step 6:  5 minutes up, we cracked the orb open!

Step 7:  Well, well, well, look who's turned into a ball!
But ...will it bounce?

I think my boys can vouch for that.

Yup, Adora-BALL. :P
Weird Science's Bouncy Ball Factory is available at FullyBooked for Php245.00.  Great hands-on science project you can do with your kids this weekend!  You'll have to explain to them how water hardens crystals though, and how that leads to bouncing.  That's all part of Creative Parenting.  Hehe... good luck!

Papier Macheniacs on FB!

YAY!  We finally decided to put our biggest Family Project Weekend work/play on display.  Minus exhibit venue and invite printing costs.  Thank you, Facebook!

Welcome to Papier Macheniacs!

Here, you'll find anything and everything we decide to make out of paper on a weekly basis.  You'll also find us throwing in tips on proper papier mache-making and care.  Are you using the right glue, the right paint brush, the right frame of mind?  Lol!  We're also debunking the stereotype that papier mache is just for display or pinata action.  There's more to it than that.  There's film-making, role-playing, ultimately great family bonding.  And you won't believe how much creativity spillage can happen once you give your kids full hands-on in it.

If you've ever been stumped on arts and crafts ideas for the kids on weekends, well, here's where you grab ideas as you go.  And all you need is paper, and a tank full of imagination. 

Papier Macheniacs.  Like us.  Because we... like... you.

Papier Mache: All Boxed Up Edition

Don't you sometimes find yourself drowning in empty cereal boxes, popcorn boxes, vitamin boxes, potato chip canisters, and discarded toy cardboard backings?  Weekends, I'd be knee-deep in these things.  You can dump them all in the trash bin 'til the garbage truck comes around, or you can do something more productive with them.
Me and my boys, we always go with the second option.

You know how an empty box is the simplest yet richest toy you can give your child, right?  It's readily available, and its simplicity fuels your child's imagination to no end.  That's exactly how my boys look at a box... provided it comes with glue, newspaper, and rolls and rolls of tissue.

Let me present to you our Family Project Weekend Papier Mache Collection:  The All Boxed Up Edition!  Drum roll please!

Bowser's Castle is made out of a Zest-O 8-pack juice box, Pringles and Cheetos canisters.

Ellie's house of Pixar's UP is made solely out of microwave popcorn boxes.

Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory is made out of old cellphone boxes and tissue cardboard rolls.

Back to the Future's Clock Tower is made out of a Koko Crunch box and old flashcard boxes.

Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror is made out of microwave dinner boxes, a Cherifer box, and a Make-Your-Own-Dino box.

This Mayan Temple is made out of old business card boxes and Lego toy boxes.

The 20th Century Fox structure is made out of Mixed Nuts canisters, a Panda cookie box, and a Cookie Crisp box.

Going fully cliche here, the possibilities are indeed endless.  All there is to it is a box and your kid's boundless imagination.  What do you get?  Instant creative family bonding with an ultra fulfilling end result to boot!

Time to look at an old box as something more than a piece of trash, don't you think?  It's an art piece, a home made toy.  Why, it might just be your next weekend family addiction to look forward to and enjoy.

Now, excuse me while I take this opportunity to hoard. :)

Deck the halls with Dinos!

Family Project Weekend presents home-made refrigerator magnets.
Dinosaur refrigerator magnets.
That in itself hits so many levels of coolness!

It was one of those Mould-and-Paint Crafts Kits from 4M --a Christmas present from Tita Annie which was definitely up Kenji's alley.  Dinosaurs?  Magnets?  The opportunity to mess up the living room with Plaster of Paris?  Yup, definitely up Kenji's alley.

Now, it may look daunting at first but this project is fairly easy to accomplish, and very kid-friendly.  Kenji worked the plaster mix himself.

Pouring the quick-hardening mixture into the dino mould is his favorite part.

Waiting for it to dry --not so much.

An hour later came the fun part:  Popping the prehistoric sculpted figures out of the plastic mould!  This requires lots of care specially if you're thinking of letting your kid do the popping.  You can trim the edges of the figures with a knife to give them a cleaner look.

The 'funnest part'?  Painting!  Kenji went to town dabbing his dinos with what he calls 'crazy colors.  I don't like brown dinosaurs.  Brown is boring.'.  Good point.

He asked me to help him apply some of the tinier details.  And then it's waiting for more drying again.  If your child's patience doesn't run dry before the plaster does, then it's time to stick on the magnets!  Magnet strips with back adhesives also come with the package.  You may want to help your kid with this step.  It gets a little tricky.

Finally --time to adorn the fridge with these dinos' magnetic glory!  Woohoo!
Of course, Kenji and I had to push the envelope a bit so we made Jurassic foliage and volcano cut outs to keep the dinos from feeling homesick.

Uh-huh, this boy is proud of his work.  This one's for you, Tita Annie!

Art to Art

I haven't been talking about Family Project Weekend for a long time now simply because my boys have not moved on since being introduced to Papier Mache.  Papier Mache, by far, is the longest-running hobby hit in the household!  That and tinkering with the mac.  My boys are umbilically-connected to technology being self-professed mini-art directors.

This post features those 2 loves.

One rainy weekend, Kenji was surprisingly hell-bent on making papier maches of Maggie Octopus (from the Simpson's Halloween Movie) and Dr. Octagonapus (of YouTube's fame).  I thought those were pretty random choices until he shot a picture of the 2 facing each other and quickly uploaded it to the mac.  He then went to work on the Powerpoint Program and transformed the simple shot into a screen capture of his self-made, work-in-progress video game:  OCTOWARS!

And then there's Miro who slaved for days sculpting, coating, and painting several penguin breeds he learned from the school library.  When done, he propped them on a white sheet, took dozens of photos, and uploaded them to the mac.  I saw him surfing for different scenic backgrounds, too.  A little computerized snip, paste, and clean up later --and he's got the first few pages of his new book:  THE TRAVELING PENGUIN.

My boys are multimedia (er, dualmedia) artists!  Who would've guessed! 

I'm proud of my boys for welding the 2 art forms together to create cohesive, imaginative wholes.  Their fondness for old art and new art finally met.  Of course, they haven't finished their big projects and are now bullying me to help them out --but it's a cool start.

With that, I call upon parents all over to expose your kids to every art form they can get their hands on.  Kids are pretty poly-inventive.  Chances are, they'll astound you.