totem-advanced

First decide how many main characters you want to have on your totem pole.

Then collect a variety of bottles or aluminum cans which will be used to build an armature (inside framework) for your totem pole. Each container will be for a separate bird, animal, fish, or human character.

In this example, we have a heavier glass bottle for on the bottom so the totem pole will not tip over as easily. The lighter containers will be used for the higher levels of the totem pole.

Tape the cans and bottles together end-to-end in the order that you prefer.

Put the heavier containers on the bottom, and the lighter aluminum or glass containers higher so your totem pole does not tip over easily.

Use cardboard to make appendages such as wings or beaks. These are first drawn out with a marker.

These shapes are cut out using scissors.

The appendages are then taped onto the containers.

Left: The completed armature for your totem pole.

You can see that all of the empty containers and cardboard appendages have been taped together.

Cover the armature of your totem pole completely with papier mache.

Strips of newspaper that were saturated in a mixture of approximately half white glue and half water were used in this example.

You might have a different recipe to make papier mache paste.

Left: The totem pole is all covered by papier mache and then painted with a coat of white paint.

Right: The totem pole is finally painted with the appropriate colours. Show the totem pole to your friends as you tell them your story of what it represents.