Build a Terrarium- Ecosystem inside a jar

In National Geographic

A terrarium is a completely self-sustaining ecosystem in a container that is designed to house small animals and plants under controlled conditions.

The closed nature of a terrarium creates an environment easy to control, allowing the simulation of environments from desert to rain forest.
In general it is made in a clear naked container, but can also be constructed in wood, for example.

The top can be open or closed depending on the environment we want o recreate. When open it's protected with a net to prevent the "escape" and the entrance of living beings.

How does it works?

The plant resets the oxygen, the light is a source of energy, the water comes from moisture in the soil. As the dead leaves fall and decompose providing food for the soil.

We can build a Terrarium, that's today proposal.

What we need:

• transparent glass container, with a wide opening,
• small stones,
• activated charcoal, you can buy it in a pet shop,
• potting soil,
• small sponge,
• a net with a fine mesh 
• canvas
• moss and/or plants.

How to:

1. Chose what plant you want to use, they must be small and slow growth;
2. Place the small stones in the container -terrarium;
3. Spread a small amount of activated charcoal on the top of stones;
4. Take a piece of canvas and make a small cut in the middle
5. Cover the charcoal with the canvas;
6. Place a sponge (with 3cm wide) in the canvas cut, this will take the moisture to the plants;
7. Cover the all hing with soil; 
8. Place the plants. Just like you will do it in the garden;
9. Spray your plants with water;
10. You can add o your garden some action figures;
11. Close the Terrarium with the net;
12. Wait to see if it works.

At first the Terrarium will look fragile, but after a few days the ecosystem will start operating normally. It's normal if the first try fail, but don't give up, use different plants and different soil and try again.

Et Voilá!
Can you make it work?

Enjoy!

DIY Pendant with beach stones

Another DIY project for the Summer.
Use your restless beach stone collection to make beautiful and personalized pendants. You can use them with chain-keys, necklaces or bracelets. You also can paint some lucky charms like the "Evil Eye"- in last picture-, this amulet will protect everyone who use it against the evil eye .
Or you can simply ask your restless to paint the stones as he wishes.

We will need:

• alcohol,
• little stones from the beach,
• thin wire,
• pliers,
• pencil,
• acrylic paints,
• varnish.

How to:

1. Chose your stone, to paint evil eye the stone must be small, round and plain. try to chose the small ones, you will not want to use heavy weight around your neck;
2. Clean the stone with tap water and alcohol to clean the salt, the sand and any other residue;
3. Draw on the stone what you want to paint;
4. Next paint all the stone with a light color, (white if possible);
5. Next color your draw with the other colors, first the light ones;
6. You must resist painting the details, Those will be the last thing to paint;
7. Wait for 4h, paint must dry;
8. Varnish and wait another 4h;
9. Now you have 2 choices:
1. Use the wire and make a cage for the stone: Use the pliers and curl the wire around the stone. The stone must be trapped but not "glued" to the cage. When you finish make a double ring and super glue the 2 turns of the ring.
2. Make a double ring with the wire: Make a double ring with the pliers but don’t cut the ends, super glue the end tips to back of the stone.
10. You can use this in many was: in a bracelet, in a necklace, in key chains...

NOTE THIS:  If you chose to paint the evil eye- in the image-you must know that some people believe that a blue looking towards to us brings bad luck (although the blue-eyed person is good and virtuous), that’s the reason the most common color in evil eyes is the blue (they take away the bad luck)

Et voilá!
Another great use for beach stones

Enjoy!

Decorated candle with beach stones

Another good application to your restless shell/stones collection is to do some candles. Doing candles can be a highly specialized task but it can be transformed in a very rudimentary task, anyway it's fun. 

To this DIY project you can buy a white and plain candle, if you wish
With this project you can recycle those annoying little crayons your restless keeps in his pencil box.

We will need:

• candle wax,
• candle-wick,
• old crayons,
• beach stones, tiny
• shells,
• an old pot or metal box, the box will be trashed after this, you can use a metal milk powder box for example
• Molds, the plastic yogurt cups work well they aren't the ideal material but they easy to find,
• Wooden sticks, you can use clothes pins.

How to:

1. Wash and clean the yogurt cups very well;
2. Cut the candle-wick with the cup height plus 2in;
3. Chose a tiny, really tiny, stone to work as weight to candle-wick;
4. Tie the stone to the wick.
5. Tie the wooden stick to the other candle-wick end, the wick must be tied in the middle of stick;
6. Place this “stick+wick+stone” set in the yogurt cup,
7. The wick must be stretched, if needed adjust the knot on the stick;
8. Place this cup in a metallic tray;
9. Put the wax into the metal box and take it to the stove fire, don't use to much wax at the same time;
10. Wait until the wax is pasty;
11. Chose your favorite crayon color and chip it into the wax, keep the heat down during this process, this avoid the wax to become dark;
12. Let the chips to dissolve and turn off the heat;
13. Wait a few moments to cool the wax a little, remember you are using plastic yogurt cups and if the wax boil the cup will melt almost immediately, that’s why we use the metallic tray, to avoid accidents,
14. Fill 1/4 of the cup with wax; place some stones against the mold wall;
15. Place the wick on the center and far from the stones;
16. Let it cool;
17. Melt the wax again, you can chose to use another color, repeat the mix and the cool steps;
18. Fill the cup at 1/2, place the stones, adjust the wick, and let it cool;
19. Fill the rest of the cup with wax;
20. Leave it to cool for 24hours;
21. With the exact-O knife unmold the candle.

Et voilá!
Original candles you can use as you wish

Enjoy!

Photo in a lamp

Look to an object and see beyond the obvious is a good exercise. Our brain must be trained to do this. A good way to train this is to reuse objects; sometimes we trash materials that can be something else. This thinking promotes recycling and stimulates the reuse, encouraging energy saving with the waste reduction.

Old lamps are good objects to reuse, we can pain them, we can fill them with color sand, make a jar... But there is a problem with lamps, open it, it's needed some training to open a lamp without broken it

What we need:

• pliers,
• screwdriver,
• lamp, Broken lamp to reuse
• a towel, rag,
• wire,
• wood block,
• sandpaper,
• acrylic paint,
• varnish,
• mini clothespin,
• glue, hot glue works better,
• lamp socket, you can buy it in any hardware store,
• screws, for the socket ,
• rubber feet, or felt;
• a photo, small enough to fit inside the lamp.

How to:

1. Sand the wood block;
2. Paint it with the acrylic paint, remember the bottom will be hidden and the top will be partially covered with the socket;
3. Let i dry for about 24h;
4. Varnish;
5. Let t dry again;
6. Glue the rubber feet on the bottom;

First phase is done, lets take a look on the lamp, this must be done by an adult

1. Place the lamp on the towel, and with the pliers, remove the metallic tip of the screw of the lamp. Just the tip, don’t use to many pressure on the lamp, grab the screw with your hand and the metallic tip with the pliers,  rotate steadily, be careful with your fingers, child must be away from you while you are doing this.
2. When we pull the tip with the pliers all lamp content is dragged out;
3. Confirm the lamp is really empty;
4. Wash the lamp with tap water;
5. Let it dry.

The lamp is ready, lets place the picture inside: 

1. Screw the lamp socket to the wood block;
2. Cut a piece of wire, about 2 and half times the height of the lamp;
3. With the pliers roll up the wire like the one on the image, when you finish this twisted wire must fit inside the lamp.
4. Glue the mini clothespin to the other end of the wire, upside down;
5. Bend the wire end, the curly section will support the picture, like feet, and the mini clothespin will work as a pin;
6. If the wire is too big cut it now;
7. Place the wire inside the lamp, remember to do the last adjustments to it, size and position;
8. Pin the Photo to the clothespin;
9. With careful and patience, place the set "wire + clothespin + photo" inside the lamp
10. If necessary use hot glue to fix the wire to the lamp socket.
11. Screw the lamp.

Et voilá!
A photogenic paperweight 

Enjoy!

Sources:
http://girlinair.blogspot.com/2011/05/lets-make-fathers-day-gift.htm

Art with beach stones

Your restless can role play with this. Make a masterpiece with beach stones.
This is another summer craft you can do all year, is always fun and they love it.
Buy an art board, or make yourself one with a piece of wood, and invite your restless to make art with stones, the result always work.

What we need:

• beach stones, several formats and colors,
• art board,
• white glue
• charcoal,
• beach sand, optional
• acrylic paint, optional,
• varnish, optional,
• brush, optional.

How to:

1. Wash all the stones, first with water and after with alcohol;
2. Separate the stones by color, size and format;
3. With a charcoal, draw, with light strokes, the design you wish to replicate with the stones, for some restless the "we will see as we go" works best;
4. Geometric designs always work in this project, triangles, circles, straight lines...
5. Apply white glue on the art board;
6. One by one, glue the stones to the board as you with, to form the design you want. Use colors, formats and sizes to do the pattern;
7. After you finish spread the sand on it, the sand will glue to the "empty spaces";
8. Let it dry for 24h;
9. You can paint stones outlines with acrylic paint if you wish, let it dry for 4;
10. Before varnish remove the sand.

Et Voilá!
Hang your master piece on the wall, and wait for next summer.

Enjoy!

Beach shell frames- Summer DIY

You can find a few summer activities here, but this one is really a summer activity.

The idea is to make some frames for our pictures using materials we find on a summer walk along the beach. I don’t know about you but every time I come home from the beach we bring tons of stones and shells...

This tutorial will help all restless to use their stone/shells collection to do something that will remind them, when the winter comes, the hot and nice days of summer.

What we need:

• a photograph,
• tape,
• white glue,
• shells,
• exact-O knife or scissors,
• Pencil or pen,
• ruler,
• cardboard can be a piece of a cardboard box,
• Thick cardboard,
• Acrylic paint, optional,
• Sand from the beach, optional,
• Varnish, optional.

How to:

1. First of all chose the photo you want to frame;
2. Make 2 little rolls with the tape and fix it to the cardboard;
3. Outline the picture with the pencil;
4. With the ruler and the pencil draw the frame format, if you can't make it symmetric draw it clearly asymmetric, otherwise will look weird;
5. Take the photo off;
6. Again, with the ruler and pencils help, draw a second outline 1/2in around the original photo outline, like the photo is 1/2 smaller;
7. With the exact-O knife cut the frame;
8. Place the frame on the tick cardboard;
9. Draw the frame exterior outline on the cardboard;
10. With the exact-O knife cut the second cardboard, remember to cut "inside" the pencil stroke, otherwise the back cardboard will be bigger then the front frame;
11. Spread white glue on the frame, not too much or the shells will drown in glue;
12. Place the shells like your imagination/creativity tells you to, you don’t need to fill up all empty spaces;
13. If you want to use sand, now its the time, cover all the frame with it;
14. Wait for 24h;
15. If you wish to use acrylic painting:
1. First option is to dye the glue, before apply the glue mix paint on it as you wish;
2. Second option is to paint shells after the glue, wait 24h before apply the paint.
16. Remove the excess of sand;
17. Glue the photo in the frame back;
18. Let it dry for 2h;
19. Glue the cardboard in the back, to protect the photo;
20. Varnish it if you want.

Et Voilá!
Summer in a shot!

Enjoy!

Dye techniques for T-shirts

Dye a T-shirt with the desired pattern, or at least a minimally predictable pattern, it is not a random challenge, today we share with you some techniques you can use, you can check the information on dying techniques here: Stamp and dye t-shirts, summer DIY.

Note:
Make sure the rubber bands are tight!

Knot technique

• Grab the T-shirt on both ends and twist it, like a rope,

 

• Tie a knot in the fabric. 

Spiral

• Place the T-shirt in a plain surface.
• Place your thumb on the fabric; exactly in the place you want the spiral central.
• Use your fingers to secure the fabric in place, and start to twist.
• After each twist, with your free hand, flatten the fabric to prevent the spiral to fall apart.
• At the end of the twists you must have something that looks like a giant flattened biscuit;
• Put the rubber bands in place, like the picture.

Rosett:

• This effect creates a pattern of overlapping or close circles;
• Use a pencil to mark on the t-shirt a few points, these points will be the center of the dyed circles;
• Use the thumb and forefinger to pick up the fabric in the same place you painted the point;
• Hold this "tab" with the other hand;
• Repeat the process for all the dots;
• When finished you must have several of this "tabs" in your hand.
• Wrap a rubber band around each "tab", and wrap 2 or 3 around all the set.

Stripes

• Wrap the t-shirt forming a long tube. The lists will be dyed perpendicular to the tube.
• Squeeze the tube with the rubber bands, the more the bands are spaced thicker will be the lists.

Source: this idea came from here

Et Voilá!
Exclusive T-Shirts! 
Lean how to dye

Enjoy!

Hunting animals with a camera

The child must understand there is live everywhere, under the stones, near the pool, on the sand under our feet...

What we need:

• a camera, preferably cheap, the child can broke it, it can be a cell phone or disposable, for example,
• a computer, for downloading photos,
• a notebook,
• a pen.

The project is simple but requires some hard work:  

1. Stimulate your child to find a spot with live. Let him/her to take the camera everywhere he goes. Let him to look, to find and to capture the moment with it;
2. Its allowed to capture same species in different locations;
3. Tell him to take note of the place, time of the day, and other important information when shooting, for example, "Park, 2:30PM, very hot, 5 animals photographed in the grass, 2 near the swing";
4. Download photographs to your computer;
5. Place them is a special folder, named it after the place and/or the day where your child took the photos, your restless can do this, on the notebook write down the name of the folder corresponding to the location described previously;
6. Let your restless child name each photo with the animal real name. Let him look for the names he doesn't know on the internet and/or books…;
7. To finish you can place all the pictures on a slide show, he will be amazed with all the animals he saw.

The duration of this project is variable, only parents and/or educators can evaluate the availability of children for this project.
Set a day, or a specific hour during the day to catalogue and download the photos, or, and trust me on this one, it will be the chaos.

Attention: 

Explain to the child that in any case he/she should arm the animals he/she is shooting, tell him/her not to hold them in his/her hands... any of this actions can lead to the animal dead or trigger defensive reactions.

If the child prefer use the vegetable kingdom

Et Voilá!
Life is everywhere waiting to be found!

Enjoy!

Giant soap bubbles

Blowing Bubbles

Dip your pipe and gently blow.
Watch the tiny bubble grow
Big and bigger, round and fat,
Rainbow-colored, and then
SPLAT!

Margaret Hillert
Yes, today we are going to play with giant soap bubbles.
Not much to say about them, just that they make children smile and adults dream ... give a child a bubble, and its like you are giving her/him the magic itself.

What we need:

• 2 cups of washing dish detergent,
• 3 cups of warm water,
• four ounces of glycerine, buy it at the drugstore, the secret ingredient,
• large bucket, preferably with a lid,
• "Hula Hoop",
• small stool,
• rubber pool, the hula hoop must fit

How to:

1. Mix all ingredients in the bucket, water, detergent and glycerine;
2. Upon mixing the solution pour it in the pool;
3. Put the bow in the pool;
4. Place the stool inside it;
5. Equip your restless with goggles, fins, swimming suit, and whatever else you can remember of;
6. Lift the Hula Hoop in order to cover the child, he will found himself inside a giant soap bubble!;
7. Now, let your restless try it, replace him/her in the pool.

For better results:
The weather must be warm, wet weather works best
Heavy water makes this demonstration more difficult

But what happen in a soap bubble?

Surface tension
H2O molecules are in red and white
Blue circle:
hydrophilic end of the soap molecule,
Black "tail":
hydrophobic end of sap molecule

The soap is the main ingredient on a soap bubble; moreover, if you want to try, brands and different types of dishwasher detergent give different results. Soap is made of molecules with two distinct ends, one hydrophilic and another one hydrophobic. The first one attracts the water, the second repels it.
If we could cut a bubble we would see something like the picture, a water layer surrounded by two soap layers, one inside the other outside the bubble.
The interaction between the soap bubbles pushes the water molecules away from each other relieving surface tension.
On the other hand glycerine bonds with hydrogen in water preventing evaporation.
 
But a question remains:
With the hula hoop we can make spherical giant soap bubbles, but if we use a square form can we make square bubbles?...
 
Answer
No
 
Why?
Because everything in Nature happens with the minimum possible energy spent. This is a basic fact of Nature.
Surface tension of the bubble "is going to shape" it in a form with the less possible area to contain that volume. That shape is the sphere- also called bubble- the most effective shape in universe when comes to energy saving. Look the Sun, the planets, the water drops, the berries, and I am sure you can remember a few more spheres

Et Voilá!
Who would say we can learn with sop bubbles?
 
Enjoy!

Geyser Cola/ Mentos or Soda/ Candy

At first looks like a dangerous and silly prank, but if well done, on the right place is spectacular, and makes all adults want to be restless young minds.

Don't do this at home, chose an easy cleaning place!

What we need:

• 1 coke bottle, full,
• 1 Mentos pack,
• 1 cardboard, enough to "close" the bottle,
• 1 test tube... or a paper funnel,

How to:

1. Chose the place to this demonstration wisely, it will be messy, and you must be able to run away... fast;
2. Uncap the coke bottle;
3. Place all the Mentos (about 10) on the paper funnel, or test tube;
4. If you are using a test tube , place the cardboard on the top and turn the tube upside down;
5. If you are using the funnel close the end with the cardboard;
6. Place the tube/funnel on the bottle uncapped top;
7. Look around and chose a direction to run away;
8. Remove the card quickly, so the candies fall in the bottle.
9. Run!

"Parents friendly" alternative
You can do this on a smaller scale, without the amazing geyser but with same effect, and best of all, without the mess.

What we need:

• 1 glass,
• 1 Mentos pack,
• Coke or other carbonated drink.

How to:

1. Put the glass inside a bowl;
2. Fill half of the glass with your drink;
3. Throw 1 Mentos inside;
4. You don't need the running part.

Results:

Before any further conclusion, 

• What happens isn't a chemical reaction! its a physical phenomenum, witch results in the sudden production of carbon dioxide resulting in a massive bubbling;
•  If we look closer, Mentos surface is very rough... those irregularities are responsible for gas formation and sudden release.
• Soda is made up mostly of water and sugar.

Knowing, these 3 things, lets try to find out what happen:

Carbonic drinks, like coke and other sodas, contain, as its name indicates, dissolved carbon dioxide. This gas is in equilibrium  and under a certain pressure- that’s the key the pressure- ready to escape as soon as the pressure on the liquid surface lower. All we know that’s necessary to remove the cap of the bottle with careful, without shake the liquid, otherwise all the drink will come out the bottle.
Until you open the bottle, the gas remains in suspension on liquid, and it can expand to form bubbles.
Note that if you place the soda in a glass and submerge a toothpick on it, its surface will form bubbles immediately.

Why?
Water molecules attracted each other strongly, holding the gas bubble in a kind of water molecules net. To form a new bubble or to expand the existing bubbles the water molecules must to move away from each other. Extra energy is needed to break this surface tension! In other words the water shows resistance to soda bubble expansion.

In this demonstration Mentos candy is going to perturb the coke equilibrium, the surface tension, this allows the CO2 to escape.

How?
When you drop the Mentos on the bottle the surface tension is disturbed, and therefore the expansion and formation of new CO2 bubbles becomes possible. Mentos have thousands of micro holes on the surface those are called nucleation places- perfect places to form CO2 bubbles. As soon as Mentos touch the soda the bubble formation is initiated in its entire surface.
When all this CO2 is released from the bottle takes the liquid with it.

In conclusion:
This process depends greatly on CO2-under pressure- and on a element that disturb the tension -the element must be porous with nucleation holes), So we can conclude this demonstration can be done with any drink with bubbles like Sprite, beer, or even Red Bull.
We don’t know any other candy that works best then Mentos. They have thousands porous and heavy; they drown and don’t come out with the geyser.



Watch MithBusters movie "MythBusters - Diet Coke & Mentos":


Note that: Internet sources tells us that the use of diet coke works best because the low sugar ratio, witch delays the bubble formation

Sources:
Mentos e Coca-Cola- Ciência Hoje



Et voilá!

Enjoy!

Stamp and dye t-shirts, summer DIY

With the summer a question pops up, what do kids need to buy... and where to buy? Most of the times this is a problem because the cloths we find in stores are not exactly the ones we are looking for besides having an exclusive T-shirt is much more "stylish".

Painting a t-shirt is not that hard, there are several ways to do this, some more expensive then others, but all of them will make your restless the "number one" at school.

First of all do some shopping, buy a few basic t-shirts, the color doesn't matter, but they must be plain., those are normally cheaper and will work best.

Buy also some fabric painting (dye, paint, spray or a pen, all depends on the method you want to use).

Using transfers with iron
How to:

1. Pick an image, scanned;
2. If the image is not on your computer scan it, high definition;
3. If you are a medium user use a image edition software to center image, adjust colors and luminosity as you wish;
4. When it's done, print the your design in transfer printer paper;
5. Place a card inside the t-shirt, stretch it.
6. Use the paper on T-shirt, follow the instructions on the package; 

One idea is to use the children drawings.

Using painted iron transfers
How to:

1. Pick a black and white image, or scan it;
2. If you are a medium user use a image edition software to center image, adjust luminosity as you wish;
3. When it's done, print your design in transfer printer paper;
4. Place a card inside the t-shirt, stretch it;
5. Use the paper on T-shirt, follow the instructions on the package;
6. Color the image with fabric paint;
7. Let it dry for 48h before you wash it.

Using your restless hands/feet
How to:

1. Buy fabric paint and a sponge;
2. Cut the sponge, 1 piece for every color you want to use;
3. Place a card inside the t-shirt, stretch it;
4. Put both on the floor;
5. With the sponge paint your restless hands/feet, you can also try this with your cat or your dog;
6. Stamp the t-shirt as you wish.
7. Let it dry for 48h before you wash it.

One great idea is to stamp the feet on the back and write something like "My son/daughter/can/dog walk over my back" on the front.


Stamp with a sponge or a potato 
How to:

1. Buy fabric paint;
2. If you use a potato: cut it in half, with the exact-O knife try to crave a pattern, you can do a star, a moon, squares, hearts, keep it simple; 
3. If its a sponge you can try to do the same thing, or you can buy them already shaped;
4. Place a card inside the t-shirt, stretch it;
5. Wet the sponge/potato on paint;
6. Stamp as you wish;
7. Let it dry for 48h before you wash it.

Using dye
How to:

1. Buy dye and some rubbers (about a dozen)
2. Use rubber gloves and a craft coat;
3. Follow instructions to prepare the paint;
4. Fold the t-shirt on her own, form some clusters and use rubbers to keep them in place;
5. When you done folding, deep it in the dye, again follow instructions. if you want a multicolor t-shirt wait about 5 hours before you deep the t-shirt on the second color;
6. Wait 5h;
7. Rinse well with water;
8. Let it dry for 48h before you wash it.

Using a stencil
How to:

1. Buy fabric paint, with stencil spray works better;
2. Buy or do your own stencil; 
3. Place a card inside the t-shirt, stretch it; 
4. Place the stencil, cover all area you don't want to paint;
5. With the spray, paint the stencil, chose a safe place, spray can do a mess;
6. Let it dry for 48h before you wash it.

Et Voilá!

New wardrobe for the whole family

Enjoy!

Papier-mâché, to play and paint

Papier-mâché is a fantastic way to entertain children and grownups. We can do amazing art while we promote recycling and handcrafts.
Papier-mâché is an excellent idea to play with, because everything we need is there, around the house.

Let's see how to do it, this will entertain them for hours.

For the glue
We will need:

• 1/2 cup flour;
• 2 cups hot water, let the water boil, be careful its hot;
• 2 cups cold water;
• 3 tablespoons sugar;
• A large bowl;
• A pot.

How to:

1. Add in a bowl the cold water and flour
2. Mix well to form a homogeneous mass,
3. Add this mixture to the boiling water, don't let your child do this, he can burn himself.
4. Wait until its boiling again, remove it from heat and add the sugar,
5. Mix;
6. Put aside to cool, while cooling the mixture thickens.

If you prefer you can buy white glue and dilute it 1:1 (half/half) in cold water.

For the fun: 
We will need:

• The glue,
• Old Newspapers,
• Mold, you can use a balloon, a stone from the beach, a plastic cup...

How to:

1. Cut the paper into thin strips, the strips should be cut using hands, the thinner the paper the better it will look;
2. Cover paper strips with glue;
3. Prepare the mold, in this case fill the balloon;
4. While pulling the strip out of the glue, with your fingers remove the excess glue;
5. Cover your mold with these strips impregnated with glue, in this case the balloon;
6. Continue placing strips of paper to cover all the mold, do not cover the knot, overlap the strips and put them in different directions, to ensure greater stability to the final result;
7. Near the place where the knot is make an edge. Wrap all the strips together and roll them in;
8. Wait for 4-5h to dry, depends on the type of paper, you must check the paper from time to time;
9. You can apply a new layer if you wish;
10. The final set must wait to dry at least 24h.
11. Burst the balloon;
12. Remove the balloon through the hole of the mold.

Et voilá!
You have a papier maché balloon ready to be painted

If you cut the final result in half you can do 2 masks, for example, or if you cut it horizontally you can make a bowl... you can do several other things, just let your imagination flow.

Enjoy!