more papier maché
We are loving the metallic paint – even the chicken turned golden (or bronze really)
jeudi le 17 avril
A bit thin on the ground this week, everyone is doing their gardens as the weather is so good. However, lots of rugs are being finished off. Eric painted over his bridge and now we have a superb abstract. I painted one of the papier maché bowls with bronze paint and started a portrait.
decoupage plant pot
I think this really works well. Just a plastic plant pot with decoupaged flowers. We’ve decided that it would look great if it was painted inside. Well done Hilary.
Jeudi le 4 mars
Jane brought in a work in progress with the cats entwined. Katie has finished her bowl of fruit and I think they look good enough to eat. I painted a chicken and went back to a seascape that I started in ink and finished off in acrylic.
salted peanut cookies
The biscuits this week were Nigella’s salted peanut cookies – yummy – the recipe as follows:
75g soft brown sugar plus extra for dipping
100g butter and 50g vegetable shortening eg Trex
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g self-raising flour
125g salted peanuts
Heat oven to 180 deg
Mix together sugar, fats, egg and vanilla. Stir in flour and then the peanuts. Drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto the baking sheet. Oil the bottom of a glass, dip into the extra sugar and squash down the cookies to flatten. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Easy
Mardi crafts
I’ve been dabbling with decoupage – quite pleased with the results. I used newspaper and napkins on the tray and cut-out images from magazines for the papier maché bowl. It’s tempting to use too much glue as this rubs off the surface – they now need a varnish and they’re done.
samedi le 22 mars
I have just made another batch of cornflour dough for mardi crafts. Here is the recipe if anyone fancies trying it.
1 cup of cornflour
2 cups of bicarbonate of soda
1 1/4 cups of water
Mix in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and keep stirring until it thickens like mashed potato. Immediately take off the heat and plop out onto a board. Cover with a damp cloth until cool. Then roll out and cut out shapes. This will air dry in a few days. If you make a hole with something like a chopstick in the top you can hang them up for Easter.
This mixture makes a really smooth dough and will take gentle sanding and painting
Jeudi le 20 mars
This afternoon Eric finished his waterlilies and started a really vibrant picture from a tiny sketch that he had done. I always love his pictures when they are at abstract stage. Katie was working on her bowl of apples in acrylic, Angela on her quirky seaside picture in oil and Lyn and Heather were doing some lovely watercolours.
Mardi crafts
Well done Viv for finishing a second rug with balloons. I also received an email from a previous ‘rugger’ who sent a picture of her pig rug. Jane was working on her elephant, George was painting his turtle and Katie had done a beautiful decoupage bird. Brigid and Cas were making papier maché bowls and birds. A menagerie!
Tuesday 25 February
Tuesday 25 February
We all got very messy working with papier maché with some great results. George had already prepared a turtle (or is it a tortoise?) and covered it with the papier maché. Katie, Jane and Bridget made a bowl and then started on other projects.
