Jar of hearts ... paper mache hearts

Do you shred documents and junk mail? If so, that little bin under the shredder fills up pretty quickly. You can put the shreds in with the recycled trash, compost it or make new paper. I decided to make some new paper from paper mache pulp and use it to make tags.



To make paper from paper shreds you’ll need:
Paper shreds or torn up paper
Water
Flour
Sugar
A large pot
A rolling pin
A strainer
Parchment or wax paper

Place your paper shreds in a pot of boiling water and let boil for an hour or so.
Stir the paper every now and then and add more water if needed. Time saving option: soak your paper overnight in a bucket of water to eliminate the boiling step.
Once the paper starts to get mushy; drain it in a large strainer. I used a wire strainer so the bits of paper wouldn’t fall through larger holes of a sieve.
While the paper is cooling, make paper mache paste. Here’s the recipe:
Combine ½ cup flour and 2 cups cold water in a bowl.
Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pan and add the flour and cold water mixture.
Bring to a boil again.

Remove from heat and add 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Let cool. The paste will thicken as it cools
Squeeze your paper to remove as much water as possible. Slowly add the paper mache paste. You probably won’t need all the paste. Just enough to coat the paper.
At this point, I added little cut up bits of colored tissue paper to jazz up my paper. Don’t boil the tissue paper with the shreds or it will just become part of the mush.
Roll out your pulp between two pieces of parchment paper using a rolling pin.
Try to get your paper fairly thin.
Place on a cookie sheet or tray and let dry.





Once your paper is dry, cut them into desired shapes.



Mine cooked heaps longer cause I had a heck of a lot of paper, to which I add a lot of pink food colouring. Then after draining most of the water, added the flour glue mix, then added dried crushed roses and leaves, Working it through. Rolled out the ball of pulp thinly (mine could have been thinner), cut heart shaped cookies with a cookie cutter. Let it dry for a few days on a flat surface, break each heart off and cut edges neatly, sand the edges if they a little rough. I took all the hearts to work and sanded them with the linisher and drilled holes for the tries. A hole punch would not go through cause they were a little thick. Painted the edges with a little gold from Jo Sonya paints. Added the raffia for ties and it's all done
Rustic gift labels for the next few years. lol

That was fun making
See ya
Rina