Do you want to create a unique sculpture from junk mail and other useless papers? Do you have leftover glue sitting around? Here's how to make a recycled, contemporary sculpture.
Steps
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Look through those coupon pages you get with the Sunday paper or any other kind of colorful junk paper.
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Anyway you want (by folding or just cutting), make ten long strips from two or three pages. You may want to fold them like a fan and then snip it into pieces. The pieces will unfold to create zigzag strips.
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In a bowl, combine about two tablespoons of plain white Elmer's glue with about half a cup of water. Mix it until you get a few tiny bubbles.
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Soak the shredded paper in the glue-water mixture for about five minutes. Keep it out of the sun or heat, but don't refrigerate it either.
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Once it has soaked, pour the mixture through a colander to drain the excess water. Squish it into any shape.
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Set your sculpture onto some sort of disposable plastic plate or bowl. Sometimes, the glue-water-paper ratio gets out of whack and your sculpture will stick to your plate, so be sure to use a plate that you can throw away.
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Put your sculpture outside on a plate or by a window to dry and harden.
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When it's hard, enjoy your new recycled sculpture!
Tips
- If your glue-water-paper ratio doesn't work, but you really like how it turned out, try cutting off the plastic to which it became stuck.
- If you want to cover your junk paper with a different color, try mixing a little acrylic paint with the glue-water mixture.
Warnings
- When your sculpture is done, it will be delicate. If you don't like it, play around with the amount of water, glue, and paper.
- Immediately wash the bowl and colander you used with soap to prevent the glue from drying and sticking.
Things You'll Need
- White Elmer's glue or tacky glue
- Water
- A bowl
- A colander or screen with fine holes
- Junk mail or paper
- A disposable plastic plate or bowl
- OPTIONAL: acrylic paint
