The Crafting Lumberjacks' Terracotta Pot Makeover: A Journey with Instant Paper Mache

Hey guys, welcome back to HGTV Handmade where the crafting Lumberjacks are at it again! Today, we're going to take on a project that seemed simple enough – putting faces on two terracotta pots using clay. Sounds easy, right? Well, as we soon discovered, it was not as straightforward as we thought.

At first, our idea for instant paper mache came to the rescue. We found out that this material comes in big batches of pulp that looks like dryer lint. To make it, you simply add warm water little by little until you achieve a clay consistency that's neither too watery nor too dry. It's essential to keep your instant paper mache in its original top bag because it starts to dry out quickly, so don't forget to store it properly.

When working with instant paper mache, we used some basic tools like butter knives or any other makeshift tool you might have lying around. We also found clay tools at our local craft store that helped us create the finer details on our pot. Our first step was to start with the nose; for us, this seemed like a good starting point as it helps shape the face of our terracotta pot. Feel free to experiment and play with your design without worrying about the result too much – after all, instant paper mache can take you wherever you want!

One thing we love most about using instant paper mache is that once it's dried, you can sand down any features that don't quite fit your vision. This is especially helpful if you're not entirely satisfied with how a particular part turned out. We've found this trick particularly useful when working on the eyes of our terracotta pot characters – symmetry can be tricky to achieve!

For those of you who might be curious, we started by creating two pieces that were roughly the same size and then worked from there. This helped us achieve symmetrical results for our eyeballs. Now that we have our basic shape in place, it's time to move on to the fun part – adding details! We used a combination of techniques to create the eyebrows, starting with a gentle touch until we got the look just right.

We were thrilled with how our initial design turned out and decided to take it further by adding some colorful touches. Using primer first and then applying textured stone spray paint brought our terracotta pots to life in ways we never thought possible! We picked out plant hair that matched each of their personalities, adding a playful touch to our creations.

If you're inspired to try your hand at making these adorable terracotta pot characters or experiment with instant paper mache for yourself, we would love to see what you come up with! Don't forget to share your creations and let us know if you have any questions or need further guidance. Stay tuned for more crafting adventures on HGTV Handmade, where the crafting Lumberjacks bring their creativity and humor to every project they undertake!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys welcome back to HGTV handmade where the crafting Lumberjacks we had an idea that we thought was so simple put faces on two terracotta pots using clay well it turned out to be a disaster until we found instant paper mache it was a lifesaver instant paper mache comes in big batches of pulp it kind of looks like dryer lint so to make it you can put in a zip top bag and then add warm water little by little and then you can you know rush it so we're looking for a clay consistency we don't want a too watery we don't want it to dry dry now when you use your instant paper mache keep it in that good top bag because it does start to dry out pretty quickly we found these clay tools at our local craft store but if you don't have any don't worry you can use a butter knife or anything back nestled and we're going to use these to create little details on our pot I think it's best to start with the nose that's where I always start but I guess it's really up to you I think it kind of shapes the face now there's really no rhyme or reason to how you're doing this just play with it let the instant paper mache kind of take you wherever it takes you yeah and the greatest thing about this paper mache is that once it's dried you can sand it stand down your nose or your eyes if you don't like the way it turned out I think eyes are the trickiest part because you really do want to try to make them symmetrical so I always start with kind of two pieces they're about the same size and then I go from there okay now I'm going to start my detail work I'm just I'm going to start with the eyeballs all right now for the fun part the eyebrows now for this I'm just kind of picking at it make it look really bushy so here's how they turned out we love them we think they look so awesome so you can leave them like this but we wanted to take it a step further and we are going to add some spray paint we're going to use a primer first and then we found this awesome textured stone spray paint that we're going to use awesome we love the way these turned out we picked out plants hair that matches each of their personalities yeah let us know if you make these or if you make anything with instant paper mache we would love to see a picture don't forget to comment like and subscribe and we'll see you soon byehey guys welcome back to HGTV handmade where the crafting Lumberjacks we had an idea that we thought was so simple put faces on two terracotta pots using clay well it turned out to be a disaster until we found instant paper mache it was a lifesaver instant paper mache comes in big batches of pulp it kind of looks like dryer lint so to make it you can put in a zip top bag and then add warm water little by little and then you can you know rush it so we're looking for a clay consistency we don't want a too watery we don't want it to dry dry now when you use your instant paper mache keep it in that good top bag because it does start to dry out pretty quickly we found these clay tools at our local craft store but if you don't have any don't worry you can use a butter knife or anything back nestled and we're going to use these to create little details on our pot I think it's best to start with the nose that's where I always start but I guess it's really up to you I think it kind of shapes the face now there's really no rhyme or reason to how you're doing this just play with it let the instant paper mache kind of take you wherever it takes you yeah and the greatest thing about this paper mache is that once it's dried you can sand it stand down your nose or your eyes if you don't like the way it turned out I think eyes are the trickiest part because you really do want to try to make them symmetrical so I always start with kind of two pieces they're about the same size and then I go from there okay now I'm going to start my detail work I'm just I'm going to start with the eyeballs all right now for the fun part the eyebrows now for this I'm just kind of picking at it make it look really bushy so here's how they turned out we love them we think they look so awesome so you can leave them like this but we wanted to take it a step further and we are going to add some spray paint we're going to use a primer first and then we found this awesome textured stone spray paint that we're going to use awesome we love the way these turned out we picked out plants hair that matches each of their personalities yeah let us know if you make these or if you make anything with instant paper mache we would love to see a picture don't forget to comment like and subscribe and we'll see you soon bye\n"