Mushrooms and Mome Raths

At some point during my year of being of being twenty one, I decided that I was done aging.  Therefore, when it came time to plan my 22^nd birthday, I decided I would rather have an Un-birthday instead.  Alice and Wonderland was probably the hardest theme party I’ve undertaken, and in combination with the other things I had going on my life last April, it was a rather hectic time to be so ambitious.  I started with a web search, which led to a variety of resources, but none of them were exactly what I wanted.  I knew I wanted to go with the original Disney version of Alice in Wonderland, rather than the more modern release.  I knew that it wasn’t accurate with regards to the book, but that was what I grew up with.  

 The first project I undertook was creating these paper mache mushrooms as a shelter for the momeraths. Unfortunately I didn’t take pictures while I was making any of the things for the Alice in Wonderland party, as I didn’t plan on posting tutorials about it.  However, hopefully you can get the idea from the finished pictures I have posted.

I referenced the following tutorial, making some important changes for the scale to be appropriate to my apartment-sized Alice in Wonderland party: http://www.lauraleeburch.com/blog/2011/01/fairytale-mushrooms/

Oversized Paper Mache Mushroom Tutorial

Supplies:

• paper mache supplies (newspaper, flour, water)
• Umbrellas
• Chicken wire or other wire mesh
• Craft paint
• Fabric (about 1 yard per mushroom)
• Hot glue gun

1. Create newspaper strips as well as paper mache paste (2 parts water, 1 part flour) 
2.  Construct a mushroom base from chicken wire or a similar material, ensuring that the bottom of the base is larger than the top.  I used plastic cups filled with rocks to help support the base, but depending on your size you could use a flower pot or something similar. 
3.  Set up umbrellas to be covered with paper mache for the mushroom top
4. Cover the surface of both the cylindrical base and umbrella in several layers of paper mache.  I recommend leaving a hole in the center of the top to allow attachments to the base. Allow the paper mache to dry completely. If desired, you can continue to add layers to improve the strength of the mushrooms. I used fans overnight to help mine dry quickly. 
5.  I recommend painting the top of the mushroom while it’s still attached to the umbrella in order to prevent putting unnecessary pressure on the top.  I wanted the cartoon effect of a spotted mushroom without it looking corny, so I went with a brown base with off-white spots.  If you wanted to add extra effects you could use glow in the dark paint for the spots, or string Christmas lights through the base and underneath the top of the mushroom. 
6.     Connect the base to the top.  I used a combination of hot glue and wire to attach the top.
7. I then lined the underside of the top of the mushroom with a pre-pleated fabric I bought in the scraps section of JoAnn’s. You could also just use some muslin that you gather yourself.  I simply used hot glue to glue the fabric to the top of the mushroom.  The easiest way I found to do this was by taking a rectangular section and folding it in half, placing the inside edge of the fold at the connection between the top and base, wrapping it around the base as I glued it around the edge.  I decided to leave the edges of the fabric sort of loose to give the mushroom a more organic feel.

After completing the home for the momeraths, I decided to make the momeraths themselves.  These are super easy to make and would be a fun craft with your kids (minus the hot glue).

Mome Rath Tutorial

Supplies:

• Colored popsicle sticks (you could also paint plain popsicle sticks)
• Large pipe cleaners (I couldn’t find large enough pompoms so I ended up cutting up the large size pipe cleaners)
• Long squiggly balloons
• Goggley eyes
• Hot glue gun

1.       Cover two popsicle sticks with the long squiggly balloons, letting the ends you blow up the balloon with hang over the end of the popsicle stick slightly.  You can cut the top off the balloon to help make it easier to glue the ends of the popsicle sticks together later. 

2.       Glue the ends of two popsicle sticks together at about a 30-45 degree angle at the cut or top end of the balloon (not the open end where you blow it up, as this will be the mome raths feet). 

3.       You need to make another set of popsicle sticks glued together, without balloons, that match the balloon color if desired, for each mome rath.  Ensure these are at the same angle, as you’ll need the wide end to match up on the two sets. 

4.       Then glue the two sets together at the open tips, at a little less than a right angle so that the top set (the one covered with balloons) is leaning back slightly.  This will keep your mome rath from falling over forwards due to the weight of its big fluffy head.

5.        Then glue a pompom or short section of pipe cleaner to the overlapped top of the popsicle sticks. 

6.       Glue some googley eyes on the front, and voila! You have some mome raths to live under your mushroom!

These where only a few of the projects I undertook to create my Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party.  The remaining projects will be soon to follow!