Millefiori Clay on Papier-mâché

At a previous job, I was inspired to enter a piece into a company wide art competition that would include participants from around the world. I had to incorporate the 5 business values of the company into a piece that demonstrated something that I was passionate about. I chose to create a papier-mâché hot air balloon ornament that would be colored with the symbols that represented the values. My piece won the local competition, the regional competition, and made it into global semifinals.

I had not seen this type of project done before and so I wanted to share my idea and my processes with you!

Here's the final project:

I made the  papier-mâché form with a water balloon. The basket base was done over a small balloon over a plastic form. The polymer clay canes were made in the shape of my employers core values. For some tutorials on how to work with polymer clay watch a few videos on youtube. I’ve been working with clay for years but this is the first time I’ve made canes.


The following videos show the steps of the process in a little more detail:



Sculpture Part 1 - Creating a Polymer Clay Cane

Sculpture Part 2 - Rolling out the Polymer Clay Cane

Sculpture Part 3 - Slicing Polymer Clay Canes

Sculpture Part 4 - Creating a  Papier-mâché  Form

Sculpture Part 5- Tiling the Balloon Form with Polymer Clay Cane Slices

Comment below if you have any questions about the materials used, techniques, and results. I’m glad to answer any questions regarding my project but I’m not an expert and can only tell you about my research and personal experiences.

Enjoy and be inspired! I’d love to see your projects too!