DIY GOLD PAPER BOWLS

Give this easy DIY gold accent bowl a try! All you need is a bit of scrap paper, mod podge and paint and you can make a stunning accent bowl to use in your home.

Feeling a bit crafty I decided to go for a project that reminded me of high school art classes all over again – its paper mache time! Flashback to grade 11 was the last time I did this sort of project, when I was assigned to make a 3 foot gargoyle. Today I decided to go for something more modern and let’s just put it out there – much easier. This gold paper mache bowl can easily be completed in one day, with the longest amount of time being spent waiting for things to dry.

Blow up a balloon to the size you wish your bowl to be and cut up newspaper into small strips.

Using the mod podge as glue to stick the newspaper to the balloon. Apply the mod podge using a paintbrush, and continue adding newspaper until half the balloon is covered. After the first layer of newspaper several additional layers of newspaper will be required to make a strong bowl, but allow time to dry between each layer. Depending how smooth you wish your bowl to be pay attention to push out any air bubbles or bumps from the newspaper. If you find you are getting too many bumps try using smaller pieces of paper. Once the newspaper has full dried you will need to pop the balloon and throw the remains of the balloon out.

Before starting to paint if you wish you bowl to be extra smooth you can use sandpaper to sand down additional bumps. For my bowl I wanted something that was more of an organic shape with bumps and bends that would reflect light so I skipped this step. Also for the rim of the bowl I liked the jagged edge, but if you want a clean edge just take your scissors and cut around the rim of the bowl to smooth things out. Next, clean your paintbrush of the mod podge and paint the inside of your bowl. I chose to paint mine with gold acrylic paint which is very shiny and looks like gold leaf without all the additional cost and hassle. For the inside of my bowl I painted two coats of gold acrylic paint.

Flipping the bowl upside down I then painted the outside of the bowl with matte black acrylic paint. If your paint has any gloss in it will highlight all the bumps in the bowl, but I only wanted to highlight the inside of the bowl so the inside is glossy while the outside has matte paint. Depending on the newspaper you use it is possible the ink might show through if you paint a light colour and use poor quality paint. If this does happen you can either paint the bowl a darker colour or apply a paint primer/gesso to the bowl then paint the colour on top to prevent any of the ink bleeding through.

I don’t know about you, but I adore my new bowl and have plans to make a few more to create a set for my jewelry storage. Save yourself money, and create this bowl to rival others that cost upwards of $100. Let me know how your bowls turn out! See our home page for more DIY ideas.