Make Crepe Paper Mushrooms
I wanted something special as a centerpiece for my kitchen table that wasn’t flowers, but was really interesting. I had the idea of creating something to place inside of a removable wood bowl. It’s our only table so anything that goes on top needs to be able to come off for meal times. I wanted to make crepe paper mushrooms in wood bowl centerpiece with a long mango wood bowl I bought a few years ago. I loved the idea of filling it with sweet and delicate mushrooms. Almost like someone cut out a section of the forest floor and placed it inside of a single moment in time in a diorama type woodland display which I’ll show you how I put together in the next post.
These delicate paper mushrooms are easy to make and use common supplies. To create the mushrooms you’ll need:
Supplies to make paper mushrooms
Party crepe paper in white and tan (or other color of choice. If you can only find white, no worries, because they can be painted with watercolor paint later.
Skinny wood dowel rods or skewers
White craft glue
Scissors
Watercolor paints and a brush
White cardstock
Floral Foam
To make paper mushrooms tops start with drawing circles of different sizes on the cardstock
Cut the cardstock in various size circles, then cut a small slit into the center.
Slide one of the edges of the slit over the other edge and use white craft glue to secure the ends together to create a loose cone shape.
I like to sit and make a lot of these are one time before moving onto the next step. Once the cone is dry, apply white craft glue with a brush (or your finger) to the top of the cone. Take a small length of tan crepe paper and place the edge long ways onto the top.
Gather the crepe paper at the top of the cone and move around the bottom, gathering the crepe paper at the top so that it’s tight at the tip and fans out around the bottom. Cut off any excess and glue the edges down underneath. Let dry.
Brush excess glue on the top to seal any loose crepe paper ends.
While the tops are drying it’s time to make the stems of the mushrooms with a little paper frill on them
Cut skewers or dowel rods to size. I try to make sure the length of the base of the mushroom is proportional to the top. Apply white craft glue to the length of the wood piece and wrap white crepe paper in a spiral pattern all of the way to the bottom and apply white craft glue to adhere.
Fold over a section of white crepe paper about 2 inches long. Apply glue to the folded edge of the crepe paper and a little to the stem and gather the crepe paper around the base of the paper covered wood about 1/3-2/3 of the way up. This creates a cute little frill or skirt on the base of the mushroom
There’s a trick to make a paper mushroom where the tops look like they are placed in a natural way
Once the top of the mushroom and bottom are dry, it’s time to put them together. I found the easiest way to do it was to use a block of dry floral foam to put my bottom mushroom stem into to hold it in place, then add a few drops of glue on the inside point of the mushroom cone and stick them together with the cone balancing on the stem. This gives a way more natural look when drying.
Once all of my paper mushrooms were assembled and dry, I used a little bit of brown and black watercolor paint to add some aging and texture to my mushroom tops. I think this little touch is what brings them to life!
I love how natural and organic the crepe paper mushrooms look! You can see how I assembled them to create a woodland centerpiece here.
Those mushrooms are amazing amazing! I just love the centerpiece you put them in too! 🙂