papier mache spring flower bowl

For one reason or another this bowl has taken me much longer to complete than I would have otherwise hoped, even trying to get the pictures for the blog was a bit hit and miss, it was either too gloomy outside or too bright and seemed to necessitate abandoning whatever I was doing to run outside and get a few quick snaps while the light was right.  Out of about 30 or 40 pics the ones here are the only two I was even marginally pleased with!

The bowl (above) itself is just short of 6 inches tall and has a diameter of about 6 inches, it was constructed after my usual fashion using paper strips to build up the basic shape around a couple of strategically placed balloons, which I was using for armature on this occasion.  I also gave the bowl a lip initially although it was proving to irritating to keep so I used some pulp to bulk it out, removing the lip, before sanding the whole thing down.

The bud feet are essentially just shaped pulp which were again overlaid with paper strips before being sanded.

The whole pot was primed with emulsion before I added the various layers of colour to give the background green, I used kids poster paint for this, although I don’t recommend it as secondary coats tend to lift the first coats which can be hugely annoying and it can take a long time to get the effect you’re looking for … I think it worked in the end although my frustration at the time may explain my receding hairline!

Acrylics were used to paint on the flower design (see detail photo below), these were loosely based on a design Jolene has been using in her embroidery.  I also used acrylics to provide the block of colour for the earth and to build up the slightly dappled effect for the sky.  The whole bowl was finished with a few coats of varnish.

I had considered offering the bowl for sale, however, a radiator leak upstairs and my subsequent irritation while trying to fix and finish the bowl kind of ruined the finish in some small areas and to be honest they are beyond my will to repair…

… aside from the trauma of this bowl though I’m also working on a small ( 7-8 inches tall ) character piece that I should finish in the next few weeks.

2 Comments

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  By Deedra, 27 February, 2009 @ 2:23 pm

  Love the bowl! And I totally know what you mean about not being able to capturing them properly in pictures. Mine never come out as beautiful in pictures as they are irl. I also love all the fabric art. They make me smile :)

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  By Alasdair, 28 February, 2009 @ 9:30 am

  Thanks Deedra, the photography element can be a real pain at times … still a good picture is definitely worth more than a thousand words!

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