Antique Paper Mache Box

Hello my arty crafty friends. I hope you all are doing great. DT member Vidhu Thareja back on the blog with a new inspirational project.

As festival season is approaching, you all must have started thinking like me about creating unique handmade gifts. Keeping in mind the upcoming festive season, I have designed a gift box  which is very easy to make. I have a step wise picture tutorial so just relax and enjoy the tutorial.

I had a square paper mache box measuring 5″x2.5″ which I had bought from Itsy Bitsy. Other shapes and sizes are also available in  the store.I started with priming the box using Little Birdie White Acrylic Gesso and left it to dry. I wanted to create some texture, for that I have pasted bits and pieces of white tissue with the help of Little Birdie Deco Magic Glue – Matte.  I left this  to  dry.

Now, comes the most interesting part of the project. I wanted to create something different so I decided to make design with  Epoxy Clay- Little Birdie ‘Shape It’. To use it, we need to mix resin and hardener in equal portions. I mixed a very small portion at one time. I complete the design on the lid and the lower portion of the box and left to dry. It hardens within 60 minutes. To paste the  clay design I have used Little Birdie craft glue.  Since I  have  pasted  pieces  of  tissue and my design is small so  here  craft  glue  works  fine  but  if  you  are  using  ‘Shape  It’  on  a non-porous surface  like glass  or  metal or using it to make big embellishments then  use  heavy  gel  medium.I have planned to give an antique finish to my project. First I covered the whole box with Little Birdie Black Gesso. Make  sure  to  dab  brush on the  clay  design.

Next comes the coloring part. Here I need to highlight the texture and design so I decided to do dry brushing with metallic colors. I have used  4 shades of  Camel Artists’ Acrylic Colours – Gold, Antique Bronze, Copper and Antique Gold.  I did dry brushing till I got the desired result.  You  can  add  layers  of  colours  according  to  your  liking.

When the colours were dry, I sealed the box with 2 coats of Little Birdie Decor Varnish – Gloss. I had kundans in my stash so I thought of using them to decorate my box. I pasted them with the help of Little Birdie craft glue.

Now it is the turn of the inside part of the box. Instead of applying colour I have pasted golden colour satin sheet inside the box. For the purpose I have used the same Craft Glue. A beautiful box is all ready to gift.  This makes a beautiful gift for any age group.

Sharing a few more pictures of my project….

I hope you like my project interesting and you feel inspire to create something unique for your loved ones.

 I am excited to inform you  that all these products come with a unique QR code!

Point your mobile phone at the QR code on the product & scan them  to take you directly to our YouTube links where you can see how each of these products are used! Check out all our new products for QR codes in the future ( this will be either on the label or on cap of the bottle).

Use code VIDHU5 to buy any product at  www.itsybitsy.in and get 5% discount on your total bill.

Till next time we meet, stay Safe. Happy Crafting!

Vidhu Thareja

List of materials:

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *