"PAPER CACTUS" ~ for the "brown thumbs" among us
"PAPER CACTUS"
for the "brown thumbs" among us
Make your own "PAPER CACTUS" using my tutorial below!
If any of you are like me, your green thumb never really bloomed and instead dried up and blew away ... and took several plants over the years along with it.
I've never really been able to keep a plant going regardless of the steps I've taken.
I'd either give my little leafy friends too much sun or not enough; drown them with overwatering or turn them into tumbleweeds with a lack of it.
I like plants, don't get me wrong. I'm just not one to know (or bother knowing for that matter) how to best take care of which type of plant and where to best place them in my home for their maximum health and flourishing.
I have a friend whose home looks like a tropical paradise she's THAT gifted with plants and flowers.
In all honesty, I've even managed to kill aloe veras and cacti, and they require the LEAST care of all the plants ... well, to MY limited knowledge anyway.
The best option for me (and for all living flora's sake) is to simply "create" my own, hassle free plants. And THAT is where this little tutorial comes in handy.
"Stick" with me for awhile and learn how you too can make your own "impossible to kill" cactus.
I'd either give my little leafy friends too much sun or not enough; drown them with overwatering or turn them into tumbleweeds with a lack of it.
I like plants, don't get me wrong. I'm just not one to know (or bother knowing for that matter) how to best take care of which type of plant and where to best place them in my home for their maximum health and flourishing.
I have a friend whose home looks like a tropical paradise she's THAT gifted with plants and flowers.
In all honesty, I've even managed to kill aloe veras and cacti, and they require the LEAST care of all the plants ... well, to MY limited knowledge anyway.
The best option for me (and for all living flora's sake) is to simply "create" my own, hassle free plants. And THAT is where this little tutorial comes in handy.
"Stick" with me for awhile and learn how you too can make your own "impossible to kill" cactus.
You will need:
- green papers for pulping
- yellow papers for pulping
- red/orange construction paper (or a red/orange pompom)
- small/medium snowflake paper punch (not required if using a pompom)
- thin jute twine or yarn (for spines)
- kitchen blender
- cookie sheet or flat waterproof surface (countertop will suffice)
- Arnold Grummer® botanicals (or Arnold Grummer® sparkles) (both optional)
- Arnold Grummer® pour handmold paper making kit
- cellulose sponge
- large shallow plastic bin
- Arnold Grummer® press bar
- Arnold Grummer® couch sheets (absorbent material)
- household iron
- scissors
- glue gun
- glue stick
- spanish moss (or decorative pebbles or gravel)
- newspaper or tissue paper
- small piece of rigid cardboard, plastic or styrofoam
- small plant pot (or teacup)
- embossing folder for texture (optional)
Instructions:
Tear your green and yellow coloured papers for pulping into approximately 2" x 2" manageable squares. I used approximately a 2:1 ratio of green to yellow to give me a beautiful lime pulp with flecks of sweet yellow bits throughout.
Using a kitchen blender, fill the pitcher with about 2 cups of water and then add in the torn pieces of your paper. Blend well (30-45 seconds) on high and set aside.
Fill your plastic bin with a couple of inches of water. Assemble the handmold (I used the Arnold Grummer® large handmold for this project) and place it into your bin of water. Pour in your pulp and agitate with your fingers to evenly distribute the pulp over the screen. You can add some Arnold Grummer® dried botanicals or sparkles into the pulp prior to hand agitating to give the castings some "texture" and fun accents!
Gently lift the mold from the water and tilt slightly to drain into the bin. Undo the velcro straps and lift the mold up and away from the cast pulp, paper screen and support grid. You should have a lovely, layer of pulp ready for pressing.
Place the fresh cast onto a cookie sheet (or plastic bin lid does nicely ... I simply placed mine on the countertop) and set your cover screen (looks like window screen) over the wet casting. Gently press out most of the water using a cellulose sponge.
Next, remove the cover screen and set the plastic grid support aside as well. Place a couch sheet on top of the casting. Turn the stack over so that the couch sheet is now on the bottom of the stack. Using the sponge, firmly press to remove any remaining water in the kit's light green papermaking screen.
Lift the edge of the papermaking screen to see if the sheet has released itself onto the couch sheet. If not, try another corner or gently encourage the sheet edge away from the screen using a finger. Peel away the papermaking screen from the cast sheet and then place a fresh, dry couch sheet onto the stack. Using your press bar, continue to remove any remaining water, changing the couch sheets as often as necessary until most of the water has been pressed out.
Once most of the water has been removed, remove the top couch sheet from the stack.
If you've pressed enough water out, you should now be able to gently and carefully peel your sheet of cast paper from the bottom couch sheet.
Using a very hot household iron (and making sure the "steam" function is off) you can iron your sheet to speed up the drying process. I pressed mine on a couple of sheets of absorbent paper towel and a wooden cutting board to help keep the sheet flat. The paper towel also helps to prevent the hot iron from sticking to the pressed wet sheet. Once you get some of the excess water ironed out, you can remove the paper towel sheets and continue heat drying the piece.
Watch this Arnold Grummer® video on YouTube for a super helpful demonstration of handcasting paper sheets and ironing them for crisp flatness!
I've designed a "Cactus Template" for this tutorial for easy printout and use as a guide.
Simply print out the image at the size you'd like your paper cactus, trim it from the paper and trace around it with a pencil on your lovely lime paper cast.
If you maximize your layout, you'll be able to get 5 sections for your cactus out of the one large cast sheet.
If you'd like to give your cactus trunk even more texture, feel free to run the pieces through an embossing folder.
Using a scoring tool (a kitchen butterknife will do as well) and a straightedge, score each of the sections vertically down their middles. Fold over and press to "tent" them and crisp up the fold line. Set aside.
Using the red construction paper (or any favourite paper or cardstock ... I chose PINK!) and a small/medium snowflake punch, punch out approximately 3-5 snowflakes and set aside. My small snowflake punch gives me snowflakes that are about 1 1/4" diameter. My large snowflake punch gives me snowflakes that are about 2" diameter. These will form the "flower" at the top of the cactus. If you've opted for a red or orange pompom, you may skip this step.
Glue stick the red small snowflakes together in a stack using a toothpick in order to control the amount of glue (you only need a dot), and stack them into the palm of your hand on top of each other, pressing into the centre of them to encourage them to "curl" into the shape of a bloom. You can use the end of a closed pair of scissors to help.
Set your newly assembled bloom aside.
If you're using a pompom, skip to the next step.
Assembly:
Run your glue stick along the "inside" left edges of each of the "tented" trunk sections.
Place the "spines" (jute twine or yarn pieces) evenly spaced along the glued edges.
Cover the "inside" right side surfaces of each of the "tented" trunk cuts with glue stick as demonstrated in the photos below.
Assemble the pieces together to form the cactus trunk. Press together firmly to secure each section to the other.
Your cactus should now be able to sit upright. If you like, you can add some glitter or sparkly gems to bling it up even more! I liked the result I got with the bits of yellow blended in with my green and so I decided to keep mine as it was.
Crumple up some old newspaper or tissue paper and press it down into a small plant pot, or teacup or anything you'd like your cactus to sit in.
Cut a circle from a piece of cardboard, trimming to just small enough in diameter to fit neatly down into the pot just below the edge and glue gun into place on top of the newspaper.
Attach the bottom of the cactus onto the centre of the circle using your glue gun.
Next, glue in some Spanish moss or pebbles or decor gravel to cover up the cardboard.
Glue gun the bloom onto the top of the cactus and you're finished!
Not only will you have fun making this cute little cactus, but your friends will have to look twice to make sure it's not real!
Using a kitchen blender, fill the pitcher with about 2 cups of water and then add in the torn pieces of your paper. Blend well (30-45 seconds) on high and set aside.
Fill your plastic bin with a couple of inches of water. Assemble the handmold (I used the Arnold Grummer® large handmold for this project) and place it into your bin of water. Pour in your pulp and agitate with your fingers to evenly distribute the pulp over the screen. You can add some Arnold Grummer® dried botanicals or sparkles into the pulp prior to hand agitating to give the castings some "texture" and fun accents!
Gently lift the mold from the water and tilt slightly to drain into the bin. Undo the velcro straps and lift the mold up and away from the cast pulp, paper screen and support grid. You should have a lovely, layer of pulp ready for pressing.
Place the fresh cast onto a cookie sheet (or plastic bin lid does nicely ... I simply placed mine on the countertop) and set your cover screen (looks like window screen) over the wet casting. Gently press out most of the water using a cellulose sponge.
Next, remove the cover screen and set the plastic grid support aside as well. Place a couch sheet on top of the casting. Turn the stack over so that the couch sheet is now on the bottom of the stack. Using the sponge, firmly press to remove any remaining water in the kit's light green papermaking screen.
If you've pressed enough water out, you should now be able to gently and carefully peel your sheet of cast paper from the bottom couch sheet.
Using a very hot household iron (and making sure the "steam" function is off) you can iron your sheet to speed up the drying process. I pressed mine on a couple of sheets of absorbent paper towel and a wooden cutting board to help keep the sheet flat. The paper towel also helps to prevent the hot iron from sticking to the pressed wet sheet. Once you get some of the excess water ironed out, you can remove the paper towel sheets and continue heat drying the piece.
I've designed a "Cactus Template" for this tutorial for easy printout and use as a guide.
Simply print out the image at the size you'd like your paper cactus, trim it from the paper and trace around it with a pencil on your lovely lime paper cast.
If you maximize your layout, you'll be able to get 5 sections for your cactus out of the one large cast sheet.
If you'd like to give your cactus trunk even more texture, feel free to run the pieces through an embossing folder.
Using a scoring tool (a kitchen butterknife will do as well) and a straightedge, score each of the sections vertically down their middles. Fold over and press to "tent" them and crisp up the fold line. Set aside.
Glue stick the red small snowflakes together in a stack using a toothpick in order to control the amount of glue (you only need a dot), and stack them into the palm of your hand on top of each other, pressing into the centre of them to encourage them to "curl" into the shape of a bloom. You can use the end of a closed pair of scissors to help.
If you're using a pompom, skip to the next step.
Assembly:
Run your glue stick along the "inside" left edges of each of the "tented" trunk sections.
Place the "spines" (jute twine or yarn pieces) evenly spaced along the glued edges.
Assemble the pieces together to form the cactus trunk. Press together firmly to secure each section to the other.
Your cactus should now be able to sit upright. If you like, you can add some glitter or sparkly gems to bling it up even more! I liked the result I got with the bits of yellow blended in with my green and so I decided to keep mine as it was.
Crumple up some old newspaper or tissue paper and press it down into a small plant pot, or teacup or anything you'd like your cactus to sit in.
Cut a circle from a piece of cardboard, trimming to just small enough in diameter to fit neatly down into the pot just below the edge and glue gun into place on top of the newspaper.
Attach the bottom of the cactus onto the centre of the circle using your glue gun.
Next, glue in some Spanish moss or pebbles or decor gravel to cover up the cardboard.
Glue gun the bloom onto the top of the cactus and you're finished!
|
| Ain't I Sweet? :) |
(((Pssst!!! And all of those "living" plants at your local garden centre will thank you for it!)))
Thanks again for joining me and I do hope you'll visit again for more tutorials and fun creations! Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear from you!
If you're interested in seeing more of my creations, please visit me at the following links:
Facebook (artist page): Valerie J McFadden Artist
Facebook (wood/canvas wall signs page): TalkKnottyToMe
Instagram: @valeriemcfadden
Twitter: @ValleyBanshee
Oh my goodness, Valerie! You have knocked it out of the park again! This cactus is so cute, hilarious and just what I need. I share your brown thumb and yet I try every year. Maybe this is just the thing to trick me into thinking I can grow things.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lynda! I guess that makes us "Kindred Thumbs"?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I will have to cast some paper Aloe Veras, as mine is not doing very well at the moment.
I recently purchased some plant food drops so I'm hoping she'll make a turnaround.
In the meantime, I'm day dreaming about how to construct one, should she not make it another year. ;)
I could have a whole garden! Love it!
ReplyDelete