Creativity Quote ~ Eriko Horiki

“I didn’t know what I could or couldn’t do and therefore thought I could do anything. In this sense, I was a person that did what I didn’t know I couldn’t do.”- Eriko Horiki

Papier-Mache Dinosaur World

Dinosaurs though extinct for millions of years can still pretty much roar and live in the imagination of young children everywhere, and my son is no different. Now at seven-years old, that fascination still shows no sign of fading-away. Making them/ with them a little dinosaur world is a guaranteed path to their heart's fondest memory. Papier-mache is a practical and easy medium to work with; you just need some scrap paper from your recycle bin, some starch, paint, and a fairly sunny weekend.

Papier-mache can be executed by stripping scraps of paper and pasting them to shape or on to a mold- layer by layer; another way is to make paper clay by mixing little pieces of paper with cooked starch.

How to Make Paper Clay

(1)Paper pulp - Made by processing torn pieces of paper with little water into a blender. Strain afterwards.

(2)Starch glue - Made by cooking a little starch dissolved in water. You'll know it's cooked when the mixture becomes transparent.

(3) Paper clay - Mix the paper pulp and the starch glue to a right consistency, and by that it means not too runny.

Papier-Mache Dinosaur World

For this miniature world, I decided to create separate land forms to give free rein to the player's(my kids) imagination and to make storage more convenient. This project also has the secret mission to familiarize my children specially my preschooler with the different land forms.

Volcano Island

A volcano is imperative in a dinosaur world.

An old plastic plate was used as base for the island. An upside down plastic cup was set on the plate with some tape, then covered with paper strips using starch glue and an outer layer of  paper clay for texture. Plastic trees and plants can be stuck in directly to the land form or separately by paper-mache-ing them inside plastic bottle lids

Mountains and Valley

More upside down plastic/ paper cups set on an ice cream tub lid covered by more paper strips and paper clay. Drying can last several days depending on the thickness and the intensity of sun.

Hills, Cave and Plateau

For the cave, cut an opening at the side of a paper cup before covering.

Paper clay pulps can be piled on selected spots for vegetation or terrain texture. The final look will be dictated largely by how well the land forms are painted. It is best to observe from pictures or actual surroundings. Generally for both vegetation and terrain, it is usually the topmost part that appear lighter; use the darker tone to add depth and dimension.

Kawaii Faces on Hearts

Kawaii faces

Kawaii-faced hearts for V-day, why not? Kawaii graphics are easily obtainable using the internet, but for those interested to draw them by hand without having to measure everything along the way, here are the steps in pics and a few simple tips:

Tip#1  Start at the center to easily achieve symmetry.

Tip#2  Mind how the details of the face align to each other.

Creativity Quote ~ Tuli Kupferberg

When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge ~ Tuli Kupferberg

3D Paper Fruits and Vegetables

A simple way to make 3D paper fruits and vegetables is to cut out a shape in duplicates of 3 or more; fold the pieces together at the center and open, then sew with needle and thread at the crease to hold them as one.

Scraft-o Toy: Milk Carton Dog Trick

It only takes a couple of minutes to complete this trick. Amuse your kids on a rainy day over a warm drink with a Scraft-o toy creation or encourage them to come up with their own.

Butterfly Decor from Paper Umbrella

The holiday season is over and so is the string of parties, family gatherings and dinners. You've probably got your hand on a paper umbrella in one of your drinks. Here's another way of using parasol picks to decorate a future party, because one can never plan early enough. 

(1-2) Pull the tiny rubber band up to fully open the umbrella, (3-4) make 3 cuts toward the center with 3-2-3 umbrella spine intervals (paper umbrellas have 8 spines). Mind which two umbrella spines to assign as the butterfly's antennae (as most of these are irregularly spaced).

(5) Carefully tear paper where 'antennae' spines are projected, trim antennae to proportionate length. (6) Cut curve at the sides where the two lower wings are supposed to be, you can also cut the tiny part of the spines that peek at the sides. (7) Cut the wooden pick right below the band. (8) Decorate with them anyway you like: make a wall statement by using a double-sided mounting tape; or string them together to make a dainty garland.

Very simple to make, craftventure your way to these butterfly's papery transformation.

Here's to a colorful year ahead.