Paper.  We get it in the mail box, buy it at the store, receive it from friends…eventually, we develop this tall stack (or bag) of items no longer useful.  Rough drafts, failed pictures, paid bills past the need to save, newspaper advertisements…all destined for the landfill, right?

Perhaps the easiest way to reuse paper is as Pa-pier Mac-he.  A very simple paper mac-he can be made by cutting or tearing used paper into strips.  Newspaper is a natural for this process, but glossy ads, old school papers, or even bills (depending on the paper they are printed on) can be recycled this way.

To create this simple paper mac-he, mix a paste of flour and water.  Make it fairly thin–rather like chicken gravy, not the thick flour and water kind.  It should slide gently off your spoon as you stir it, be able to pour in a stream, but should have enough body to stick to a piece of paper.  You can make your paste stronger by adding white glue to the mix.  If you add oil of wintergreen, it will give the pa pier mac-he a pleasant smell and keep it from molding if you need to have it around more than a single day.

Image via Wikipedia

Next, create an armature.  This can be something as simple as a blown up balloon or lump of plasticine modeling clay, or it can be a complex structure of paper or wire. 

Soak the paper strips in the glue/paste mixture.  Pick them out one by one and place them over the armature.  If you are using a balloon, leave one tiny bit of balloon exposed.  This will all you to pop the balloon and remove it, if desired.  To remove plasticine clay, one half of the surface must be left open or the dried papier mache structure can be cut in half using a razor knife, and then repapered together, minus the armature.  A word of caution here:  if you add white glue to the mix, it can make a VERY tough surface; so go easy on the glue if you anticipate cutting open the structure.  Wire and paper structures are usually left as a permanent part of the item.  The finished structure can be painted. 

Created items can range from a pinata for a child’s party, to waste baskets and bowls, to furniture.  The limit is your imagination and the amount of waste paper you have collected.