Glittery Paper-mache Earth Hanging!

I was feeling really brave last week when I decided to tackle paper-mache with my son!

It's MESSY!

Really messy!

As a parent, I have a love/hate relationship with messes.

BUT I am happy to say... the LOVE part wins out when I realize how this kind of sensory activity can be one of the greatest joys of childhood!

(I know, I remember!)

Therefore, we threw the smocks on, rolled up our sleeves and dove in!

After all, our Earth Day Celebration wouldn't feel complete without building a model of our big blue planet itself, in tribute.

For Paper Mache part we used: flour and water mixed to a thick-like soup.  We dipped strips of newspaper in the paper-mache, removed excess pulp with our fingers, and then placed on round balloon.  We built it up 3 layers thick.

Mixing up the paste

Placing the strips. Bode LOVED this part! He was very careful to lay them on flat and smooth them out.

Our paper-covered balloons drying in the sun. I eventually moved them inside and set them over our heater vents, turning periodically. Once they dried completely, I could feel the areas that were thin, and applied more strips of newspaper, and let sit again for a few days.

After the paper-mache dried, we sanded down the surface to smooth it out.

Painting gesso on to prepare surface for paint.

It was a nice day, so we took the acrylic paints outside, and painted the "Earth" blue.

Our Earths drying

After the blue paint was dry, I did my best to paint on the shapes of the continents green. This was harder than I thought! Next time I think I will sketch it out in pencil first before commiting with paint — my continents tended to cluster on one side of the globe...who knew North America and Australia were so close to each other? LOL. I then painted glue on with a brush on top of the green. Bode sprinkled green glitter onto the glue.

I let each side dry and then we turned it over to do the other side.

We drilled a hole in the top. My boyfriend found a spring hook at a recycled building materials store that attached. I wish I could tell you the exact name of it (my google search was unsuccessful). Although I think an eye hook toggle bolt would work just as well. I then attached fishing line, and hung it up! The glitterized hanging Earth now graces my art studio! It is about 6.5 inches in diameter. Later in the week I will post about what Bode and I did with the other paper-mache Earth that we made alongside this one — it was fun, as well as educational! Stay tuned!