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How To Make A Paper Mache Egg Decoration

I love to decorate and craft for the seasons and holidays, especially Christmas and Valentine’s. My Easter crafts are a bit more subtle. But I still make a few decorations for the mantle, like this paper mache egg decoration.

I’ve already made a spring scrap yarn wreath for my front door and paper vases for the mantle the season. Like those crafts, this one uses materials you are likely to have around the house. It’s a very affordable and easy DIY.

To decorate the paper mache egg, I used spring images from my sister site Pictureboxblue. The site has a collection of vintage rabbit illustrations and daffodil images. I have edited these pictures to make them into clipart images. You can download these for free to use for this craft.

rabbit and daffodil clip art

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Making Paper Mache Eggs

Paper Mache is a very affordable and hardwearing material that can be shaped into almost anything. I’ve made a Paper Mache rabbit head and large decorated bowls with it before.

It is a very green craft as you recycle and repurpose materials such as newspapers and other printed papers. Also, paper mache is fully compostable, adding to its green credentials.

What You Need

  • Scrap paper such as newspapers, but other papers will do. We read our newspapers online these days, so I didn’t have any. But I had plenty of old computer paper, so I used that instead.
  • Small balloon – I used a small water balloon as my mould to achieve the egg shape for this spring mantle decoration.
  • White craft glue, such as Mod Podge.
  • Double-sided sticky foam pads
  • Old-style wooden cotton reel spool
  • Creamy white paint – acrylic or latex paint. I just used some leftover house paint I had in my home.
  • Talcum (baby) powder
  • For Easter paper images, you can download the rabbit and floral ones I used below (in the steps). Or you might want to use others. There are some good books that are full of wonderful images to collage with.
inflated-balloon-paper

How To Make The Paper Mache Egg

Step 1: First, inflate the balloon to the size you would like the egg decoration to be. Then tear up the paper into small squares about 1 inch in length.

Dilute the glue with water 50/50. Soak the paper squares in the glue mixture and then add them to the balloon one by one. The wet paper will mould around the curves of the balloon easier than dry paper.

Top Tip: If the paper is very thin and delicate and tears easily when wet, brush the balloon with the glue-water mixture first, then add the dry paper sheets.

paper-mache-the-balloon s

Step 2: Carry adding the squares of paper until the whole balloon is covered. I used an egg cup to keep the balloon upright. Another method is to hang the balloon with string while the paper mache dries.

I used three layers of paper, letting each layer dry in between. Even though the eggs will be thin, the combination of paper and glue will make them quite strong.

paper-mache-drying

Step 3: Once the paper mache has dried, pop the balloon with a pin. Then cover the hole with a couple of squares of paper. When that has dried with scissors, cut the side of the paper mache egg open.

popping-the-balloon
cutting-side-off-egg

Painting And Decorating The Egg

Step 4: Mix talcum powder into the paint to give the paper mache egg a plaster-type finish. Add the talcum powder a little bit at a time, and stir it into the paint until it is a very thick consistency.

Adding talcum powder to paint
stirring-paint-and-powder

Step 5: Paint the egg inside and outside with the thick paint mixture. Two coats of paint should give the egg a rough plaster appearance.

Powder painted eggs

Step 6: To further decorate these eggs and give them a spring feel, I used cutout paper images of rabbits and daffodils.

You can download the images I used below. Just click on the title above each clip art sheet. A higher-resolution image will open in a new window in your browser. If you right-click on the image with your mouse, you can save the image to your hard drive.

Vintage Rabbit Clip Art
vintage rabbit clip art
Vintage Daffodil Clip Art
free daffodil clip art

Step 7: Use paper glue to stick the cutout images to the egg.

paper-mache-easter-egg-decoration

Step 8: To finish this Easter mantle decoration, make a stand for the paper mache egg using an old wooden cotton reel. Use a sticky foam pad on the top of the reel to hold the paper mache egg in place.

sticky-pad-on-cotton-reel
Paper Mache Egg Easter Decoration

The decoration looks great on my mantle. It’s a very cute, subtle spring decoration. Other paper cutouts could be used for different holidays to update the decoration throughout the year.

Mantel paper mache egg and rabbit decoration
paper-mache-egg-spring-craft

If you liked this craft, you might want to check out some other Easter crafts on Pillarboxblue, such as the paper bunny treat bags, Marimekko decorated eggs, and the real egg Easter wreath.

Or, if you love paper mache crafts, check out these cute paper mache vintage teacups; they can also be decorated for Easter.

Yield: Paper Mache Egg Decoration for Spring

Paper Mache Egg Decoration

Mantel paper mache egg and rabbit decoration

This is a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a paper mache egg with a unique plaster-type finish. Then how to turn the egg into a unique mantle decoration for your Easter mantle. This is a very affordable papercraft.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Active Time 30 minutes
Additional Time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 40 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost $1

Materials

  • Paper scraps - newspaper or computer paper 
  • Water balloon - small balloon to get the egg shape.  The size of the inflated balloon will determine the size of the paper mache egg decoration.
  • Mod Podge or other white craft glue
  • White paint and talcum powder for the plaster effect
  • Wooden cotton reel spool
  • Paper clip are images of rabbit and flowers- these are free to download from the site.

Tools

  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Inflate the balloon. Tear the paper into pieces about 1-inch square.
  2. Dilute the glue to a 50/50 water glue mixture.
  3. Soak the paper pieces in the water glue mixture and then stick them to the egg one by one. Carry on until the whole egg is covered. Leave it to dry by sitting it in an egg cup or hanging it on a string.
  4. Add at least another two layers of paper mache.
  5. When fully dry pop the balloon and cut the side of the egg off using scissors.
  6. Mix talcum powder into the paint until very thick.
  7. Paint the inside and the outside of the egg with the paint mixture.
  8. Cut out a rabbit image and some spring flowers from the clip art.
  9. Stick the rabbit and the flowers to the egg.
  10. Make a stand for the paper mache egg by using a wooden cotton reel. Use a small piece of double-sided sticky foam to secure to egg to the top of the cotton reel.

Visit allfreepapercrafts for more paper crafting ideas.

Rebecca

Tuesday 30th of March 2021

I LOVE this craft, Claire! The bunny and daffodils make it look so vintage! Thanks for sharing at Celebrate Your Story! Link Party. You’ve been featured this week 🙂

Claire Armstrong

Wednesday 31st of March 2021

Thank you so much, I think it’s the vintage images that give it the vintage look.

Niky

Sunday 28th of March 2021

This is so adorable, and brings me back to my childhood! I'd LOVE it if you'd share this at my link party, Sundays on Silverado, which is open now! 💕

Niky @ The House on Silverado

Claire Armstrong

Monday 29th of March 2021

Thank you, Niky. I certainly enjoyed making it.

Cecilia

Saturday 27th of March 2021

How cute! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

Claire Armstrong

Sunday 28th of March 2021

Thank you so much, it was fun to make

Kimberly Dsouza

Friday 26th of March 2021

Your decoration looks lovely. What a super idea. It's amazing what one can create from simple everyday stuff. :) #HomeMattersParty

Claire Armstrong

Saturday 27th of March 2021

Thank you, I like to craft with the things around me and avoid expensive trips to the craft store.

Rachel

Wednesday 24th of March 2021

This is absolute beautiful, it almost looks like an antique. I'm so going to try this myself.

Claire Armstrong

Thursday 25th of March 2021

Thank you, the talcum powder and paint makes a great effect on the paper mache.

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