In third grade, I was the last person to pick a topic for the science fair. While my classmates got the more glamorous projects – lizards! exploding volcanoes! mold & bacteria! – I got clouds. Clouds! Can you believe it? My project consisted of me going outside taking pictures of the sky and taping them onto a sky blue poster board. I was virtually ignored at the science fair, “Please!!!! Let me tell you about cirrus clouds!!!” “No thanks, going to see the lizards.”
If only I had had these cute paper clouds back in third grade – nobody would have been able to resist my report!
These happy, little (and, if memory serves me right, cumulus) clouds were leftover from our recent catalog, and since it would be a crime to throw a cloud away, they now live up in the atmosphere of the creative studio.
They make me smile whenever I come into work – I just find them so darn cute! And not only do they make lovely office decor, but they also would look darling in a kid’s room or (on a smaller scale) above a crib in place of a mobile.
Want to make your own paper clouds? It’s easy!
Supplies:
– we used big rolls of photo set paper, but you could use poster board or whatever type of paper you want (depending on the size of the cloud).
– foam board
– scotch tape and packing tape
– fishing line
– x-acto knife and cutting mat (or a couple sheets of cardboard – don’t want to slice up your kitchen table!)
Cloud Making 101
1. Trace your cloud pattern onto paper. Our clouds have wavier, elongated edges, but you could do much shorter and stylized edges for a more cartoonish look.
2. Place the paper on the mat and cut out with x-acto knife.
3. Trace the same pattern onto the foam board. We made our paper cut-out slightly larger than the foam board; it creates a nice transparent edging.
4. Cut the foam board pattern out.
5. Apply loops of scotch tape to the foam board, then carefully place the paper on top of the foam board and press down.
Voila! You have a beautiful cumulus cloud of your very own:)
Finding a home for your cloud
We hung our cloud from a pipe with fishing line. We cut out small foam board rectangles and wrapped the fishing line around them, then taped them to the back of the cloud using packing tape.
You could tape directly to a wall if you like. Or since they are lightweight, you could use small ceiling hooks to suspend them from the ceiling. Just make sure to test first – you don’t want a cloud falling on you!
Send us your pictures if you decide to do this – we’d love to see!
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