Cabbage Centerpiece

A fresh new centerpiece screams spring! This one started with a roll of toilet paper. (Really... it did!)

Toilet paper clay is smoother to work with than paper mache. It's soft and it's white, which makes it a blank canvas. 

Materials

• Water
• Toilet paper (about half of 1 roll... enough to make 2 cups of wet paper)
• 1 cup joint compound (in the paint aisle)
• 6 ounces white glue
• 3/4 cup flour

I filled a large bowl with toilet paper and added water to it. And kept adding the toilet paper until I had about 2 cups of wet paper. 

Then squeezed out as much water as possible and tore it up into pieces.

Using a large freezer bag, I added the wet toilet paper, joint compound, glue and flour and mixed it together. (Just kept squeezing the bag.)

It formed a nice soft clay. 

Then I took a bowl the size of a cabbage and placed plastic wrap all around it. 

Taking handfuls of the clay, I placed it onto the plastic wrapped bowl to press a large cabbage leaf into it to make impressions all around the bowl.

I allowed the clay to form at the rim of the bowl to make the leaves appear as part of the cabbage wilting.

Then set the bowl in an airy place for a couple of days to dry thoroughly.

Once it dried, I painted it with green watercolors to make it more realistic.

After painting the cabbage bowl, I used polycrylic to clear coat and seal it.

Then the fun part... making the spring arrangement. I cut artificial peonies to fit into a floral foam inside the cabbage bowl.

And finally... a farm style floral centerpiece is created.

Pretty; isn't it?  Instead of cutting a real cabbage to make this, I found a way to have one that is preserved!

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I'm also excited to be part of Hometalk's DIY My Spring! Home and Garden Blog Hop today. At the bottom of the post, you can see other Spring ideas for your home and garden. If you have a little extra time today, be sure to check some of the talent that is linked up below. And, if you don't already... you can follow me on Hometalk by clicking HERE.

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