Halloween Crafts: How to Make Your Own Unique Papier Mache Black Cat

With the change of fall, and Halloween quickly approaching, it's time to get those creative juices flowing and start decorating our homes for fall. We want something different, something no one else has, and I've found that the best way to accomplish that is to make it myself. After playing around for years with ideas for Halloween decorating, I've figured out a really fun and unique papier mache Halloween cat to make.

You'll need:

An empty and clean butter bowl with a lid

Newspaper

Elmer's glue

A balloon blown to the size you want your Halloween cat to be.

Black acrylic or tempora paint

Paint brush

Two pieces of black construction paper

Yellow construction paper

Pink construction paper

Two cotton balls

Floral wire

black glitter

Scissors

Tape

To begin, take your newspaper and rip it into several small pieces or strips. You don't want these too small or too large. Two inches across is about as large as you need. Tape down the tie off of the balloon to make it flat. Be as gentle as possible so that your balloon doesn't pop. Now, take your Elmer's glue and put about three fourths of it into the butter bowl. Add twice as much water into the glue and mix it up well. This will be the glue you use to adhere the newspaper to the balloon. Next, take each strip of newspaper and submerge it into the glue. For longer strips, you may want to start at one end and pull it through the glue, keeping it flat. Run the wet paper gently between two fingers, squeezing out any excess glue. Now gently smooth the wet newspaper onto the balloon. You will want to continue in this way until the balloon is completely covered in paper. When you get to the tie off of the balloon make sure to cover that area with newspaper as well.

You may want to add two or three layers of paper to the balloon to make it a little more stout. If the papier mache is too thin, it will not hold up for very long, and will become crushed through the rest of the process.

Once you have your balloon completely covered, set it aside and allow it to dry for at least 24 hours. Put the lid on the butter bowl to keep the glue inside from drying. You will need it later.

After the glue has dried, pop the balloon with a pin. Now, cut a hole in the bottom big enough for your fist to fit through. This will allow it sit in an upright position and make it easier to attach the accessories later. Be very careful not to bend the cat as you cut. Take the balloon out carefully.

Now it's time to paint your cat black. You will want to make sure to put two or three coats on so the cat isn't streaky.

Once the paint is dried, cut two triangles out for the ears. Cut two slightly smaller triangles out of the pink construction paper and glue them to the black "ears." Decide where you want the ears to go on the cat, and mark with a pencil. Cut slits in the cat where the ears are to go and put just enough of the bottom part of the triangle (the flat side) into the slit. Bend the part inside the cat over, and tape to the interior. This will hold your cat's ears in place. Now, take the floral wire and cut it to the size you want the cat's tail to be plus an inch. Poke a small hole in the bottom back side of the cat, bend the wire, and tape down to the interior. Now, take your black construction paper and cut it into a long one inch wide strip. Make it into a tube and tape it down. This is the cat's tail. Put it over the wire, and tape in place at the top and bottom on the inside of the "tube." Gently wrap the cat's tail around the base of the cat. Flatten the end of the tail, and gently tape it to the underside of the cat.

Get your butter bowl back out, and using your paint brush, put a thin coating on every part of the cat, except the interior of the ears (the side with the pink triangles). Once you have your cat covered with glue, sprinkle all the glued areas with black glitter. Set aside and allow to dry. This takes about two to four hours, depending on how thick the coating of glue is.

Once the glue is dry, using your yellow construction paper, cut two eyes. You can make any shape you like, but long ovals tend to look best. Now, cut pupils from the black construction paper (again, small ovals work best), and glue them to the center of the yellow pieces. Glue the eyes to your cat.

Now, from the pink construction paper, cut a small triangle for the cat's nose. Glue this about an inch down from the eyes, directly in the middle. Glue the cotton balls directly under the nose, side by side. Allow to dry.