Ugly No More - Family Heirloom Restoration Project is Complete

The lamp formerly known as the Ugly Lamp is complete and has a new home on a corner table in our lakeside cabin.  It seems happy there.  Since the last time I blogged about the lamp, I purchased the white shade, and after debating whether to paint the shade, I finally glued beaded trim and polka dot ribbon on the bottom edge, and a narrow ribbon near the top edge.  I'm happy with the result.  Meanwhile, my sweet husband wired the lamp so that it would actually work.  This is it, below, just after we turned it on for the very first time after being wired.  It hasn't been illuminated in decades.

When I first began the restoration process, more than two years ago, the lamp looked like the left-hand pic below.  On the right, you see it with some of the layers of paint removed.  I blogged about the history of this family heirloom, carved by my grandfather, and how it came into my possession, in the blog post you will find by clicking here.  You can also see more photos of the restoration process there.

After working on the lamp, I've decided the lamp was probably a gift from my grandfather to my grandmother when they got married.  The carving isn't as sophisticated as much of his later work, and it has engraved, on the three sides of the base, the following: a Jewish star; a menorah; and an entwined 'H' and 'R', the initials of my grandparents, Harry and Rae.  There is no such personal symbolism on any of his other pieces that I know of.   You can see the entwined initials in the images below, which show the lamp turned off and illuminated. 

 For more information about my grandfather and his wood carving / sculpture, including the story of the missing totem pole, check out the following links on my blog:
 
My grandfather's carvings, part 1

My grandfather's carvings, part 2

Papier-Mache Recipe

I've gotten a request for the awesome papier-mache recipe I mentioned in my previous post.  I had a link saved on Pinterest, but the link seems somewhat fussy.  I'll post it HERE, but I'm also copying the recipe at the bottom of this post, just as it is written on that link, in case you can't access it.  

Be aware, this is a flour-based recipe, so it should NOT be used if anyone in your class has a wheat/gluten allergy.  My little class of four students has nobody with a wheat allergy, and neither do I.  But be warned, and be careful. I'm a big proponent of using "Art Paste" for papier-mache in a regular school program because it is not a wheat product and has no allergy concerns, and also because it can be stored indefinitely.  But this stuff is definitely stronger.  Since the kids' structures were somewhat complex and our time is very limited, I did not want them to have to do multiple layers.  So using a strong flour-based paste was definitely preferable.  We used up all the goo I mixed so I didn't need to worry about storage. 

On the day that I mixed the papier-mache for my little DragonWing Arts class, I could NOT open the link with the recipe, and could not find my saved copy of it, so I just sort of invented based on memory.  It turns out that my memory is not so good; I didn't remember the baking soda and salt, nor the proportions of rice to wheat flour, and as a result, my mix was a bit gritty/lumpy, as you might be able to tell in these two photos of my girls being goofy.  Luckily, while not as creamy as it should have been, it seems to have held the projects together just fine!!!  Following the recipe would have been the better alternative, though! 

So without further ado, here it is, the recipe for the "Best Creamiest Papier-Mache Recipe Ever":

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 tbsp rice flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup cool water
• 2 cups boiling water

1. Mix the dry ingredients.
2. Mix in the cool water with a fork or whisk, adding the water a little at a time to keep it as smooth as possible.
3. Stir the flour mixture into the boiling water.
4. Allow it to boil for two or three minutes.

Options: After a night in the fridge just stir it up with a fork. It's even nicer if you heat it.