As a personal tradition, I try to make decorations from scratch for my home during the festive season. This year, I made some vases and a bowl for Chinese New Year.
For this project, I used a vase and bottles as mould. I also used traditional paper mache technique to create a base for my bowl.
I actually like the grey finish of newspaper mash—its concrete or cement-like color gives the project a rugged, raw feel. Since I also love the brown-gold tone of corrugated cardboard mash, I decided to experiment with two other types of paper products. I chose the paper cores from toilet paper rolls for a lighter brown and the inner layer of cereal boxes and similar cardboard packaging. After tearing off the printed surface, I revealed a soft cream-colored interior. I thought these three colors would go well together.
Based on my previous experience with unmoulding and reassembling the pieces—which was quite challenging—this time, I intentionally created a ‘breakline’ that followed the pattern I designed.
The bottom of the bottle came out too soft, and I thought it wouldn’t hold up well. So, I inserted a piece of cardboard for support and sealed it again with paper mash.
Through these projects, I’ve learned that no matter how well-planned a project is, there will always be moments that require improvisation—places that need fixing or improvement. Sometimes, these ‘accidents’ can lead to unexpectedly beautiful outcomes
For the bowl, I used the good-old paper mache technique to create a strong base for the paper mash. I worked with a beach ball as the mould, layering several sheets of paper to form the foundation. Once it was thoroughly dried, I added a cardboard ring as the base, then followed with paper mash.
Although I initially planned not to paint this project, wanting to showcase the natural colors of the paper products, I ended up adding some paint to the base and inner side of the bowl. The strong contrast between the earth-like tones of the mash and the red seems to enhance the original color of the paper mash.
The bowl holds mandarin oranges (they’re real and edible), while I reused the fake plum blossoms from previous years—real ones could never survive the Malaysian weather. The red paper spells 【巳事如意】, which sounds almost the same as 事事如意 (shì shì rú yì), meaning “wishing everything goes well” for the new year. 😊
wai yoke 