Wednesday, 9 February 2011

the penguin

Mb recently loaned hide and seek penguins from the library.

He has always had a fetish for penguins and giraffes.

As is typical for him, he wanted to make some thing connected with the book. I often wonder if this is how he cements what he has been reading about into his memory.

This time the project took a few days to do, as we used paper mache:


We used an old wool holder for the body - there must be a more technical name than this - and tin foil for the beak. Then we layered on the newspaper and the flour glue.

A day on the radiator and he was nicely cooked and ready for painting...


...he's really sturdy!

His name is Pepe (really wishing I knew how to make french symbols in blogger now.) He's seen a lot of play over the past few days and I think we will make him a friend in the near future. I love free toys.

4 comments:

liz said...

Wow, he is so cool! I love him. We have been unsucsessful with papier mache in the past, any tips? Somehow it always seems to collapse! It looks like Pepe is going to be a well loved part of your family.

kelly said...

Liz, I have had many, many failures with paper mache in the past! I cut the newspaper into strips about an inch wide, and made a flour/water glue of equal parts in a bowl. Then I put the strips in the bowl of "glue" and as I took it out I smoothed off any excess paste before putting the strip on the frame.

I watched You Tube vidoes (really helpful!) and I also read the paper mache section in "Making Stuff For Kids" for which there is a link in the post below.

Have fun and don't give up!

liz said...

Thanks Kelly. That does make it sound easier. i shall research the youtube videos and hopefully get some help there too. I would love to make something like your penguin, I'm sure it would be a great hit with my lot! Thanks again, Liz

liz said...
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