Many people send me questions about how I make my paper mache sculptures. Following is a basic description of the steps and materials that I use, but feel free to make whatever substitutions you feel are necessary. Please excuse the rough sketches.

WARNING

Before you use any paints, glues, or other art materials you should carefully read the product labels. Many products require that you use them in a well ventilated area and some may require the use of gloves, eye protection, or other safety equipment. Follow all label directions. You want to have fun, not make yourself sick! This information is presented "as is" and I make nor warrantees or guarantees.

The Paste

There are ready made pastes available for Paper Mache and I have been told that wallpaper paste works well. But I like to make my own paste. Here is my recipe:

• 1.5 cups water
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 tbs salt
• ¼ cup of carpenters glue (optional)

I put the water into a glass bowl (I find glass is easier to clean later) and add the flour slowly as I stir. Then I mix in the salt and the carpenter's glue. I find the carpenter's glue adds a lot of strength the finished piece. Carpenters glue is the yellow glue, it's not the white stuff.

Left over glue can be stored in an air tight container in a refrigerator for about a week. Be sure to take it out of the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature before you use it or you will get very cold hands! You will have to mix it well too, as it tends to separate.

Getting Ready

First you will want to tear the newspapers; it’s too hard to do it as you go because your hands will be all goopy and sticky. Find the grain of the paper, one way it will tear into nice strips, the other way it will not. Try to tear strips that are about 1 inch wide by 4 to 6 inches long. Tear lots... more than you need. Then tear some of the strips in half again ( so they would be about ½ inch by 3 inches. You will need the smaller strips for smaller details.

Wear a smock or old clothes! This is a messy process! If you are the type that thinks you can do it neatly, forget it! You will make a mess.

Building the Form

Inflate a balloon. Don’t blow it up too much, you don’t want it to be too “tight”, or it will pop too easily. Tie it off really well, use two knots... you don’t want it to start leaking air part way through the process.

Next, you simply build fins and a tail (or wings and a tail if you are making a bird) by cutting the shapes out of cardboard, and attaching them firmly with lots of masking tape.

Flat eyes can be painted on at the end, or for more of a challenge, the eyes can be 3D by using a Styrofoam ball cut in half, or 2 sections from an egg carton, or anything else that suits you, but don't add too many details on your first project. Try to keep it fairly simple this time.

Make sure that your balloon and cardboard form is as strong as you can make it. You should be able to pick it up by any part without fear that it will fall apart.

This is a more complicated form for the piece called "Bad Kitty". The tail is just rolled up newspaper and masking tape. The fat part of the body is a small balloon and the skinny part and neck is thin cardboard. The head is a small ball of paper with stiff plastic cut into the ear shapes. The eyes are big green marbles. The legs are wooden dowels. After this photo was taken I added lots more masking tape.

Into the Goop!

I dip my paper strip completely into the paste and then I hold it over the bowl with one hand while I squeegee off the excess with the index and middle finger of the other hand. My wife says this is the messiest way to do it, but I like doing it this way.

Then I apply the paper strip to the form and I make sure I have smoothed it down well. Apply the layers as evenly as you can, with about a 25% over lap, and try to keep your strips going in a consistent direction. Then do the next layer rotated 90 degrees, this makes it easier to see where you left off as you do each additional layer.

You can get away with 2 or 3 layers on the cardboard sections, but try for 5 on the balloon areas.

You don’t have to do all the layers in one sitting, but you should try for at least two on the first go. Don’t let the balloons sit too long before you finish adding layers, because sooner or later they will shrink, and if you are still adding layers the piece will start to wrinkle and warp. But if you are a real go-getter, becareful of doing too many layers at once, because the piece will dry too slowly and could even rot. Much depends on the climate where you live.

Allow the piece to dry naturally. Don’t try to speed up the process with a hair dryer, radiators, or direct sunlight... this will only make the balloon expand and tear the layers. Even if you are not using balloons let them dry naturally. I have been told that if you dry the outside too quickly you can seal in moisture and the piece can rot from the inside.

Here we see "Bad Kitty" with all his layers of paper mache. I used the yellow pages from a phone book for the last layer. This made it really easy to see which areas were done. You can also see the paint pot the cat is knocking over. The can was made of cardboard and the big drip of paint was formed from paper and masking tape.  Before he dried completely I made some adjustments to the angle of the back legs.