Featured Project: Cacti, from our unit about 'Form'

The month of January had students creating an assortment of sculptural pieces that ranged from accordion books to cityscapes, bobbleheads to cacti. We thought we’d give you the how-to on our incredible cactus sculptures.

We began by mixing plaster of Paris with water and pouring the mixture into small paper cups. We inserted armature wire into each cup and allowed them to dry overnight. Once the plaster hardened, we removed the outer paper cup.

Students constructed newspaper around the wire base, and built arms extending outward until they felt they achieved the desired form.

Using papier-mâché paste (following directions on package for mixing), students applied strips of newspaper moistened with the paste over the paper and wire infrastructure. We asked students to apply three layers.

After the pieces were dry, students used acrylic paint to paint the plaster bases and the cactus.

Final touches included small tissue paper flowers and pom pom details. Students used both Tacky Glue and Glue Dots to adhere their details.

The Arterie is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. The linked items are the materials we used for this project, referenced above in bold italics.