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.
