Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Papier Macheniacs: Working Wheels!!!

We're totally giddy about this one!
We've made lots of papier mache transportation in the past but we never went mechanical and made actual spinning wheels for them.  So when my boys played with them, they just sorta dragged the papier mache cars around.  Lol!

As a welcome to the summer break, we decided to push the creative envelope a bit and made working wheels.  And on Disneyland Haunted Mansion's horseless Ghost Carriage, too, no less!

For this project, we went on a plastic overload.  Simply because plastic is way stronger than paper.  With the wear and tear of toy cars, paper wheels would easily deform.  But plastic wheels, they're built to last!
And so, scraps that would've made it into the trash --and possibly, into the ocean-- became an extension to papier mache magic. :P  We got a Woody Pop box with a plastic window, Pringles lids, a milk can locking strip, and some juice and choco milk tetra box straws.

To make the wheels actually roll, we started with a regular soda straw and strewn through it a thinner, sturdier juice straw.  This will be the axel of our wheels --so sturdy is the key word here.  Then, we got the Pringles lids and used a glue gun to fit them onto both ends of the axel.  Then, we taped the wheel contraption to the bottom of our box carriage.

The milk can's plastic locking strip is also sturdy enough to stay suspended in mid-air to create those spooky, floating Ghost Carriage's reins.  We then added a couple of choco milk bendy straws for the invisible horse's harness.

So from this.

To this.

TO THIS!

Disneyland Haunted Mansion's Ghost Carriage --with true blue working wheels!  It's magical when we go a little mechanical.

And THAT... is how we roll.

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