So, after perusing the web for tutorials I finally settled on following one for a pumpkin faerie home. Except I ran into one wee problem-- all these tutorials require a pre-made/manufacted pumpkin for the home, usually available at local arts and crafts supply. The issue? The only pumpkins available to me were foam walled ones and, quite honestly, I did not feel like wrestling through a soft foam wall with an Exacto or a small-craft hand saw. Call me lazy, I just call it practical. So what did I decide to do instead? Well, again in all honesty, I wrote down my own ideas on how to create a papier mache pumpkin shell to create a tiny faerie home from. Then I decided to do it smarter and search for instructions that someone else developed for a papier mache pumpkin. I mean, the purpose of these tutorials is to spotlight someone else's process and follow it with my own additions, notations and commentary as I do it. There you have my initial process regarding creation of a Pumpkin Faerie Home. Except, I discovered one other wee issue with both my own tutorial and the one I chose to follow-- no balloon in sight and no way to get one until the weekend. What's a girl to do? I made the decision to move forward with sharing the papier mache tutorial from Instructables here. Granted, I won't be adding my own progression, photos and commentary until after I obtain the requisite balloon, but at least everyone will have their own pumpkins possibly prepared to create their own faerie homes when I do finally begin my own. Or at the very least, everyone will have their supplies list filled, prepared and awaiting a festive, pumpkin colored, crafty lift-off! ~As a side note, I highly recommend Instructables for everything and anything under the sun for learning something new. (No, I do not work for them but I have to say it would be a fantastic job to have if I did!) I also recommend reading the comments for additional tips that are excellent for this tutorial and other tutorials.~ My additional supplies list: * cereal boxes or light cardboard packaging- several * empty toilet paper or paper towel cylinder * decorative papers for inside and/or outside * watered down white glue & undiluted white glue (instead of flour paste-- although you can choose to use flour paste if you desire-- I just like white glue's ease of use in papier mache constructions.) * craft foam brushes (to apply the glue/paste and smooth the layers of mache) * Exacto, in lieu or in addition to a dremel * plastic cling wrap * Masking and/or double sided tape * waxed dental ribbon/tape (instead of yarn or rubber bands) * miniature hinges (or fabric strips/ribbon in lieu of hinges) * miniature box clasp (both hinges and clasps can generally be found in arts supply stores) * jewelry glue (to adhere the clasps and hinges) * felt pieces in neutral and/or pumpkin colors (OPTIONAL: a pretty colored piece of felt can be cut for carpeting as well!) * fabric glue (to adhere the felt) * if using flour for your papier mache I also suggest adding a few drops of an anitibacterial oil blend to your paste (or adding a single oil from the list one the above page-- except eucalyptus or lemon-- they are not adequate alone to add to a flour mache recipe to inhibit mold growth.) *if painting, in addition to rainbow hues of acrylics, I also suggest optionally using spray paints instead of bottled acrylics to paint your pumpkin outside shell * large bowl that your pumpkin can fit inside on its bottom end that comes to halfway up the shell outside (this will be used as the cutting template for the horizontal cut) * OPTIONAL: glitters, brads, eyelets, beads, glass caviar, ribbon(s), leaf cut-outs from felt-paper-or-fabrics, flocking, sequins, yarn spirals stiffened with fabric stiffener/glue or additional decorative additions to suit your personal tastes! | One important note, if you intend on creating the pumpkin shell before my own experiences are photographed for the pumpkin tutorial here-- do not cut off the top since the technique I will be utilizing requires a few different types of cutting on and through the pumpkin shell! Also, I will be adding a flat bottom to the tutorial that needs to be applied before step #2 begins. It is possible to attempt this step (I'll call it #1A) without any visual prompts but to be a bit more precise you can choose to wait for my own notations and photographic progress for this additional step. (I'm a visual learner so if anyone waits I totally jibe with that!) Notes for step #1A: create three identical circles of heavier paper, cardstock or thin cardboard that are not more than half the diameter of your blown up balloon. (I will be using light cardboard cereal packaging for my circles.) Set one of these circles aside to use as a template for the flooring. Take one of the circles and cut notches into it where the yarn/ribbon-floss/rubber bands will pass over the balloon. Cover this with plastic cling wrap and place it on the bottom of your balloon right before you begin step #2. After step #2, lightly glue the remaining cardboard circle cutout to the bottom over the yarn/ribbon-floss/rubber bands. (The yarn will be removed along with the cling wrap covered circle when the pumpkin shell is complete, so the second cardboard circle can be adhered with double sided tape or masking tape.) My suggestions after step #3 is to also paint-prime the pumpkin first if you choose to paint your pumpkin shell its trademark orange hue. (I will most likely be using the papier mache technique with pumpkin-colored papers instead of paint on the outside shell.) I will also be creating the stem in a different fashion but of course, feel free to use the #6 step, stem, the tutorial chose to utilize. I am desiring to have some tutorial progress to show everyone for next week before I undergo surgery on my back! (Surgery will be this coming Thursday-the 10th- and I just found out approximately 15 minutes after I started writing this blog post!) However, if I do not get the chance to add my own progression here, I will go ahead and link to someone else's tutorial to complete your faerie pumpkin home from their craft-recipe. I am hoping that I will have something more to share with everyone though either this weekend or before the surgery! Also hoping this is clear enough to understand without creating confusion. Rather, my intent is to create crafting adventures that can be followed by most everyone.! Until we meet again, I hope you find light, love and laughter over the weekend! |