Alice in Wonderland: caterpillar on mushroom paper mâché

Part of any Alice in Wonderland set design needs a mushroom with a smoking caterpillar! So to make the basis of my caterpillar, I stuffed newspaper balls into a stocking.

Now for the mushroom:

I am using another florist bucket , but wanted more height as I want this to be bigger then the other mushrooms... So I added 2/3 of an ice tea bottle- cut it and taped it on. 

I then used a bent but damaged piece  mdf that I had been keeping outside for a few years (always knew I would find something to do with it!) and cut a round shape from it. Taped it all together with duct tape. 

I then inserted a bamboo rod through the mdf into the bottle, this is to give support to my caterpillar.

And here is the caterpillar now sitting proudly on top:

Now it's ready for the paper mâché!

Alice in wonderland decor- paper mâché mushrooms - part 1

I am designing our camp at Midburn - Israel's regional Burning Man festival... Our theme- Alice in Wonderland... So first project : paper mâché mushrooms...

I just looked around my house for things to use as a base for the project and found many items that can be used as the mushroom stalk- a cardboard poster roll, whisky bottle box - here I am using some plastic florist containers as I found them 3 years ago on the side of the street and am finally using them - for something! I turn them upside down- then just used a plastic plate at the base for the top of the mushroom. I then duct taped the play to the container.

Next I wanted to give the mushroom some more height, so I used some EVA foam that I had lying around. 

Then I filled it out on the edges with newspaper and duct taped it all on

Now it's ready for stage 2: paper mâché

Watch this space!