Cardboard Shrine Boxes

There were a couple of factors that tipped the scales

when it came to making my own shrine boxes as 

opposed to purchasing ready made ones. 

First and foremost, I wanted to design my own

patterns and create one of a kind pieces. Mind you, 

I looked at a bunch of different designs and

then started sketching out 

some patterns of my own on grid paper. 

The second reason goes back to

my desire to use the materials I have on hand.  

The bases are all sturdy Christmas card boxes. The

frames and details are cut from various cardboard mailing boxes

I'd saved. 

All of the pieces of these boxes

were adhered together with masking tape, no glue. 

Sorry about the fuzziness of the bottom box in this next picture,

but I wanted to point out how I used

some air dry paper clay as well as cardboard 

cut-outs to build up some dimension. 

I learned a few tips with this project. 

1) The more intricate the design, the more patience and time

you'll need to paper mache. I did several pieces at a time and it

would've been better to focus on one to completion. 

2) Also, the more detailed the design, the smaller the strips

of paper you'll need to fit in the little spaces. I thought maybe if

the paper was saturated enough, I could coax it into the crevices

and around corners. . .wrong! It didn't work and I had to undo and redo.

3) I would've been a bit more generous with the masking tape, especially

around the edges of the frame. One of the frames became

a little too pliable while sitting to dry. Gravity wanted to pull down

some of the scroll type edging that had become too saturated

during the paper mache process. I was able to straighten it, but more

tape may've prevented the problem in the first place. 

The following is my star shrine. I'll 

post pictures of this piece all finished in my next post. 

Bird and Bear Nicho

The base of this nicho is an empty crab meat can.  

It's a little deeper than a tuna can.

I washed it well and made sure to get rid of any odor. 

My next step was to draw and cut out a cardboard frame 

to fit the opening of the can.

I taped the frame to the can with masking tape. 

 Using my homemade air dry paper clay, 

I built up some dimension and ridges

on the frame and paper mached the whole thing. 

It took a full 24 hours to dry before

I coated the whole thing with Zinzer 123 Primer. 

The following picture is the completed piece.

I used an old greeting card for the background and some reindeer moss

for the inside surrounding edge.

The roses were made from my cold porcelain clay.

I used acrylic paints and dimensional fabric paints (which 

may be used on surfaces other than fabric). 

I coated the outside with Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel Medium. 

Because of the depth and the visibility of the outside

of the can, it needed some embellishing as well. 

I haven't finished the back yet because I have to figure out

how and if I want to hang it.

It sits nicely on a flat surface, but I think it'd be cute hanging as well. 

Once I figure that out, I'll add a meaningful quote and my signature 

to the back and give it a quick coat of the gloss medium.