Making a set of Angel Wings - wall decor

    I saw this project on Pinterest. Not sure how it's going to turn out, but it looks easy enough. I found some shapes I like on the web, and I taped together about 4 sheets of newspaper to make one large sheet for me to sketch my

shape onto. 

     I sketched a preliminary angel wing shape, then tweeked it a bit by cutting and taping here and there - mostly so the shoe fit onto the cardboard box I had in mind to use.

     I traced it onto the box with a Sharpie, cut it out two of them with my

box cutter, and here I am, ready to cut out individual feathers. I plan to glue them on with a hot glue gun, then paper mâché to unify the wing. Wish me luck. I was planning to hang it in my

daughter's room but she is very opinionated, and she's telling me that they won't fit. We'll see - if they don't, maybe I'll find someplace else to hang them!

Finished Paper Maché Trout

I finished another project.  I'm not sure if I like the paint job, but I'm giving myself kudos for finishing this.  Sometimes you just have to get over your original picture in your head and move on.   Here's how it went:

After my last post, I sanded the fish a bit.  Not too much, just enough to take the really rough spots off.

Believe it or not, this stuff dries hard enough that I could have sanded for quite a while before I got a really smooth texture.  I might use a top layer of something smooth next time if I want a really smooth texture - I could probably use the back side of used copy paper…

Next I researched online to see if I could find any pictures with colors I really liked.  My favorite was this one.  

I liked all the colors.  

I started painting….

… and I was really lukewarm about the results.  When you layer the paint on thick, it does tend to soften up the paper maché layers again, which added to my annoyance.  I had to let it dry and think on it.  

I decided to water down the dark green color and add some spots.  I briefly thought about painting over the whole thing in a less realistic, more folk art color scheme, but then enough is enough, you know?  I have a couple of other things I want to work on, and now this fish is standing in my way!

Now that it has those few added features, I can live with it.  I added some Mod Podge for shine, and I was thinking of maybe putting on some fine, clear glitter.  But then again, I might not.  I'm not sure the hubby wants it in his den, so, since it is 4 feet long, the big question is…

What do I do with it?  

LOL