I have this happy memory of making a papier mâché lady when I was a kid. We used an empty Ivory Dish Liquid container. It was one of those crafty days with my mom that I have always cherished.

I started following Kate Semple because her work brought back those memories and I wanted to recreate them at some point.

Then Kate offered a class in her sculpture making. It was only 35UK for a 90 min video. I was surprised how a 90-minute session could jump start my creative juices again. The mood she set up with video and audio was just what I needed to kick into gear.

Kate uses only one supply I didn’t have – Uhu Glue. I found that my E5000 Glue worked just fine, but I ordered some Uhu for the long haul (I hope its smell is not as strong!). It is nice to start a class, get excited to make some work, and have on hand all of the supplies you need!

I already have a fairly strong collage art practice, so I have on hand lots of cardboard, and papers I have painted. I wanted to use collage in my sculptures, and I had some Sycamore tree bark that I was dying to try on a vessel.

There is a learning curve to making tall skinny things that will stand up the way you want, and so I also created a squat bowl. Here is a picture after I got my components together and before beginning the papier mâché part:

I added a collaged flower I had made for another project made from an egg carton and some lace trim. It may not survive the whole process, but for now, it is my idea. I will not cover the Sycamore tree bark, but thought I would collage around it. This is all new to me, so experimenting with new ideas feels right.

This is the start of the squat bowl. As you can see, I am making use of one of my handy framing tools to clamp the cardboard together while it dries. I am working on a pedestal for it.

I used a clamp til the glue dried.

After letting things settle overnight, I put on the paper with the glue, per Kate’s instructions. Here are some pictures after papering and gluing. I am quite happy so far, and not sure I want to paint these. I like their rustic look.

A squat bowl was very easy to construct.

The leaf is a sycamore leaf, which I used as a “stamp” on a series of paintings celebrating the sycamore tree. The bark on the vase is also sycamore (no trees were hurt in the making of this blog 😊).  

Kate has a very different delivery from other artists I have watched on video. She only talks when telling what she needs to tell to convey the process. Many artists tend to talk throughout the whole video, and some of them share useful information, while others could use a bit of editing. I like Kate’s style. The video was about 90 minutes and I learned enough to be inspired to make these two and have started a third.

For those of you who are interested in taking Kate’s class, you can find it here.