Making Papier-Mache

• 1). Fill an underbed storage container with balled sheets of tissue paper in a single color.
  
  
• 2). Add 3 oz. water to every ounce of tissue paper in the container, which is the proportion recommended by Albert Allis Hopkins in "The Scientific American Cyclopedia of Formulas." Squash the wet tissue paper into one corner and refill the container with more balled tissue paper. Repeat this step until the container is three-quarters full.
  
  
• 3). Gently squeeze about half the water from each handful of wet tissue paper pulp before you transfer it to a second container. Discard the water.
  
  
• 4). Weigh the wet tissue-paper pulp by stepping onto a scale while you hold the container. Subtract your own weight from the total.
  
  
• 5). Add 8 oz. joint compound and 4 1/2 tbsp. craft glue for every 4 oz. of wet tissue-paper pulp, and mix together into a thick slurry. Papier-mache artist Jonni Good recommends using joint compound because it does not set as fast as plaster of Paris.
  
  
• 6). Add 2 tbsp. linseed oil for every 16 oz. of slurry. The oil helps keep the papier-mache mixture moist until use.
  
  

Building the Vase

• 1). Mix equal parts play sand and clear acrylic sealant. Fill each yogurt-drink bottle 1/2 inch deep and allow to dry for several days.
  
  
• 2). Press a handful of papier-mache into a 1/2-inch-thick circle on a nonstick cookie sheet, the same diameter as your yogurt-drink bottles.
  
  
• 3). Place a plastic yogurt-drink bottle on each papier-mache circle on your cookie sheet. Build papier-mache around the bottle a few inches at a time until you cover all but the open top. Allow the papier-mache to harden for two to three days.
  
  
• 4). Brush each vase with three to five coats of clear acrylic sealant, allowing to dry between coats. Lay vases on their sides and apply three to five coats of acrylic to the bottoms, again allowing to dry between coats.
  
  
• 5). Fill each vase with a small bouquet of tissue paper or soda-ring flowers.