Papier Mache Bowl Class with Josephine Jagger-Manners

Some girlfriends and I decided to do something different last Sunday and we booked in for a papier mache bowl making class with local artist and thoroughly crafty person Josephine Jagger Manners.

We drove over to Molong for the class (just 30 minutes from Orange) and treated ourselves to a lip smackingly good gelato beforehand.

Molong Gelato is a fantastic little shop, that gives very generous portions of gelato unlike some of the more stingy gelato places in Sydney, that feel 2 licks are all you need.. I went with my current favourite of Burnt Caramel, the other top picks of the moment were Ginger and Fig, Watermelon, Lychee and Coconut and Blood Orange.

You can also buy the pastes that make up the flavour base for the gelato in the shop so you can go home and replicate the delights for yourself.

Having satisfied and cooled ourselves with gelato we then headed to Josephine Jagger Manner's beautiful home for our papier mache craft class.

The start of the class

Enjoying the lovely verandah and Rose!

We all got settled on the veranda, put on our lovely aprons and got to grips with the basics of papier mache.

Josephine in action

My little bowl

Josephine is an excellent teacher, who is extremely patient and encouraging even with difficult non artistic pupils, like ourselves.

Crafty concentration

All the materials we needed to make our bowls were laid out ready to go, we didn't have to do any clearing up and it was pure bliss to have four hours of uninterrupted crafty bliss. 

Drying Time Milly the Dog

There is a lot of drying involved in making a papier mache bowl which ends up taking up a lot of time. However, it gave us the chance to enjoy a wonderful afternoon tea and biscuits on the verandah and get inspired for the design of our bowls.

Painting the bowls was my favourite bit, although my bowl has turned out a bit more fluro green than planned, however as Josephine kindly put it 'We can always paint over it and start again darling!' Everyone walked away with something beautiful that had been hand crafted using every ounce of our creative skill. I'm definitely going back for more!

We all had the most relaxing afternoon away from the stresses and distraction of home. Josephine Jagger Manners holds classes every month at her home with the next Papier Mache bowl class on Sunday March 10th from 1pm - 4pm.