How to Paint and Decorate a Paper Mache Bowl

Hi, I am Mary Gallagher-Stout and we are making a lovely Paper Mache bowl today and we are now at the point where we have attached the base to our Paper Mache bowl, it's completely dry. We have this nice clean line and it's sturdy and ready to be decorated. So we are going to go ahead and paint it. I have got a traditional latex home paint that you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot. You can really use any type of paint for a Paper Mache. The trick is you just want to make sure that when you are finished painting and decorating that you seal it with a varnish or an acrylic sealer and also remember these are for decorative purposes only and you are not going to want to put cereal or food in it. They are just for decoration. If you want to put food in it, you can put it in covered candy but that's it in terms of food. So to paint the bowl, I usually, what I think is best is work your outside end.

So you are going to start on the bottom and paint the bottom, move into the middle and then up the sides, let it dry and then you can paint the inside of your paper mache bowl. It usually takes about an hour or so to dry. After it's completely dry, with all of your paint, you can move on and see a completed bowl which is have here, which is this lovely organic bowl with cherries inside which are hand-drawn with a Sharpie marker or you can use paint or chalks whatever you like and just make sure that you seal it. I have adorned a little ribbon to the base, the pretty little bow and that's it. You can do anything you like in terms of decoration, you can use stencils or hand draw it or whatever — stamping it with potatoes or stamps that you buy at a craft store and these are your lovely paper mache bowls and it was really fun making them and I hope that you all have lot of fun making your own paper mache creations in your home. Have a good day.


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