Bag lady

I finally found some time to start on the paper mache cat. The first step was to gather a few supplies, including a large brown grocery bag. I stuffed it with wadded-up newspaper to make a nice, well-rounded cat body.

Then I rolled up more brown paper (saved from a recent shipment of a Mr. Gadget gadget) and glued and taped 2 front legs to the body. I had plenty of length so I bent up the bottoms of each for paws.

Next, I stuffed a small brown bag (from one of Mr. Gadget's hardware store purchases) for the head and placed it on top of the body to check for proportion. Not too bad, but it will need more squooshing and shaping. I'll need to ge some decent masking tape--the best friend of paper-machers--since this cheap dollar store tape is not doing a good job. I might even call my glue gun into action. Just about anything works when constructing the form because it all gets covered with strips of paper and this hides a multitude of sins. I've found the same to be true of capri pants.

This is not my final answer to the challenge of making a paper mache cat. The process is not unlike the first draft of a writing project. You just get everything down on paper and then you sculpt and shape and squoosh. I should be able to make good progress as long as Mr. Gadget continues to shop.