Bottle figure

Bottle figure

Materials

• bottle (plastic)

• newspaper

• paintbrushes

• sand or salt

• strip papier-mache

• tempera paint

■ yarn

1. Find an empty plastic bottle (a detergent bottle works well). Pour
   about two cupfuls of sand or salt into the bottle. This will keep
   the bottle from tipping over.

2. Tear a sheet of newspaper in half. Crush one piece of the newspaper
   into a small, tight ball. Place the ball in the center of the other
   piece of newspaper. Pick up the four corners and tightly twist them
   together to hold the ball in place. The ball will be the head for
   your bottle figure.

1. Push the twisted end of the newspaper into the opening at the top of
   the bottle. The ball should be the only part showing.

2. Paste four layers of papier-mache strips over the ball and the top
   part of the bottle (see strip papier-mache, page 88) to hold
   these parts together. Smooth the strips around the ball.

Cover the ball and the bottle with four more layers of strips. Let the
strips dry (see dry, page 89).

1. When the figure is dry, you can paint the body, arms, face, and
   clothes with tempera paint. You can use small pieces of yarn for the
   hair.

When the paint dries, you can use your bottle figure as a paperweight or
as a bookend.