How to Make Your Own Paper Mache Shelf

I’ve been searching for a small vintage shelf for an assemblage piece I’m designing.  I’ve spent too much time looking for that perfect piece that was in my vision.  Then when I found a shelf that had the aesthetic I wanted, it was too expensive.  I had to come up with a new idea to get my shelf.  I decided to make it from paper mache.  After all, you can make almost anything with paper and glue.  Here are the pros:  I was able to make the shelf resemble the shelf in my sketch.  It was easy to make, light weight, and free by using paper and glue I already had.  It did take a few days to make it, but that was a small investment in time when compared to the time I spent shopping for a shelf.

After I finished the paper mache shelf, I painted it with brown acrylic paint.  I allowed the brown paint to dry and covered the shelf, section by section, with Folk Art Crackle Medium.  I followed the crackle medium with an off-white acrylic paint.  The beauty of this process is that the crackle medium camouflaged the paper mache finish.  I then glued scrapbook paper on the inside and have just started adding texture.

       Here's my first layer of texture I added to the scrapbook paper using a stencil