There is a whole story behind these DIY Jumbo Paper-mâché Macarons, and not everything is pretty. In fact, it includes several hours of elbow grease, a lot of toilet paper and a few industrial fans, to name just a few. Things are getting weird, aren’t they?! That’s how we felt the whole time we were making them, haha!
It all started with the fact that I was following our Local party store (much love, Emerson Sloan!) when I found their Giant Macaroons. The problem is that they are always sold and inexpensive for the number I wanted. I literally wanted to make 10 or more, which, obviously, would break the bank.
I couldn’t find them anywhere else online either (I even followed the manufacturer), so I enthusiastically decided that I should make my own. Fast forward a week after, and I must have been drunk when I thought I was. I now totally understand why they are! Honestly, I grew a mustache with the time it took to make three… that’s why we only have three of them.
And if you’re like a Paper-mâché guru judging me now, keep it up. I’m much more the five-minute DIY type. Just keep in mind that Speed Dating took place and it didn’t work out with us, but we can still be friends.
For those of you who are still ready to try it, I recommend that you do something… smaller. Ours are 14 inches wide and 6.5 inches tall and weigh like a stone. That’s another thing I did wrong, but we’re getting there. If this tutorial seems short, I apologize. It’s because I’m still tired of doing this…
- Paper-mâché clay recipe (which I used. Super sturdy, but heavy as a stone)
- Classic Paper-mâché recipe (which I should have used. Quite robust but light)
- Resin or Mod Podge
- Solid Cardboard
- Paint or adhesive tape
- Cardboard cutter
- DIY colors in the colors of your choice
- Brush
There are several types of Paper-mâché. Some are easier to mix than others, some are more stable and some are easier to mold. I thought that with the Paper-mâché clay recipe it would be easier to make the Macaron “feet” on the edges of the cookies, but it turned out that the process took much longer and weighed a ton.
I recommend going with a more traditional recipe and at the end using resin or Mod Podge on it. First of all, you need to create your Macaron mold to make the rest of the Paper-mâché mold out of it. You will need circles of the same size and a long rectangle that runs the entire length of the two circles to create a huge 3D circle glued together with painter’s tape.
Now, prepare your Paper-mâché recipe and/or mix it to start building the macaron. For us, that meant tearing up a ton of pieces of toilet paper, putting them in the water, then draining them. From there, pass it to Sheet Rock Adhesive and Elmer glue, then stir it with a giant drill stirrer. That’s a lot.
True, the clay recipe was really easy to mold the Macron, but if you don’t let the toilet paper soak long enough, it was difficult to spread. If you follow the clay route, leave it well moist for a while. Since it is also very thick, drying takes a long time.
This is where the industrial fan came into play. After about four days of fan drying and constant flipping, they finally dried enough to paint with Mac paints…
