Comments on: Papier-mache

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:20:13 +0000

I’ve heard of other folks using paper pulp but I haven’t tried it myself. How thick are your layers when you go into a mold?

By: Ben-David

Ben-David — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:10:22 +0000

Hi –

This is interesting – when doing freely built up work (not in a mold), I was taught to end with tissue to provide a smooth surface. You are sort of doing the opposite by lining the mold.

I have had a lot of success simply pulping the paper completely using an electric drill with a paint/plaster mixer. I use the pulp like clay for direct modeling. You can control the density of the pulp by wringing it out.

For molds, I either press the pulp directly into the mold, or roll the pulp into a sheet which I lay in the cavity. I then use a spoon and other utensils to press the pulp firmly into the mold, shedding excess water. Making a sheet gives a more uniform wall thickness. You can go as thick or as thin as you like when you roll out the sheet.

The pulping really binds the fibers, and this one-step process produces a very sturdy cast.

By: amyp

amyp — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:45:40 +0000

Thank you for the instructions. The most valuable things that I took away: using tissue to line the mold, using brown paper for strength, and alternating between brown and regular paper making it so easy to see where you’ve been. Thanks to you, the project we made was done in record time, and the result is amazingly strong.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:50:40 +0000

I’ve used this technique into a plaster gauze mold and it works just fine. You do want to make sure that your plaster gauze mold is thick enough to withstand some force, because you will be pushing against the mold. Make sure it’s three or four layers of gauze.

By: Eric Fine

Eric Fine — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:26:53 +0000

What about making as papier mache casting from a plaster gauze mold from life. Is the technique the same for a plaster gauze mold?

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:36:53 +0000

The thing is that the speed isn’t the only reason to do the wet-on-wet technique. The larger reason is that it’s stronger.

When you let each layer dry what happens is that you wind up with a coat of past on the surface of the paper, so the next layer is adhering to that, more than to the paper below. When you go wet on wet the fibers lock onto the fibers of the layer below so you get a stronger bond and a stronger final product. That’s one of the reasons I can get away with fewer layers with this.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:34:00 +0000

Wow. I totally want to see the papier mache house.

By: Katy

Katy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:21:23 +0000

Ah, yes. I think when you use the celophane you let the layers dry before adding the next layer. I wonder how dry time compares. I need to try these back to back!

By: annie

annie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:22:35 +0000

hi, thanks for the tutorial. I like the idea of scrunching the paper to absorb the paste.
I went to a lecture once where I was told about 2 amazing paper mache creations. One was a whole house (in a dry climate somewhere) and the other was a fully operational fob watch with all the workings carved out of paper mache. It is incredible stuff & more should be done with it in this wasteful era…
mmmm… I feel an idea coming on

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:27:19 +0000

You know, I haven’t tried the celophane method, though I’ve heard of it. My hunch, and this is just a guess, is that you’ll lose the ability of the plaster mold to wick moisture away. This might make it dry less evenly than a porous release. Still, it’ll be worth giving it a try.

By: Katy

Katy — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:36:49 +0000

Hi there! This post is a really great resource! Thank you. I have one comment about an alternate release technique. In the past I’ve made clay sculptures that we turn into mache and we used celophane hit with a heat gun as the release instead of tissue paper. You don’t want to melt the celophane, just hit it to tighten the stuff onto the model. Do you know how this compares to using tissue? I haven’t tried the tissue technique for release before.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:30:54 +0000

Just the tissue paper, which serves as a release. Because it doesn’t have the glue in it, it doesn’t stick to the plaster the way subsequent layers do.

One of the reasons this cures without mildew issues, I think, is that the unsealed plaster wicks moisture from the bottom layer as the moisture in the top layer is evaporating into the air. I’ve gone into non-porous molds and it seems to take significantly longer to reach the leathery stage.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:26:53 +0000

My pleasure! This technique really did change the way I do puppet building.

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:38:56 +0000

This is a fantastic tutorial – thanks! Just one question: do you use some kind of release like petroleum jelly on the plaster mold, or do you just put the first layer of tissue into it completely dry?

By: Greg Ballora

Greg Ballora — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:02:12 +0000

Mary, That is a really nicely written article. Thanks so much for taking the time to make it clear, concise and fun.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:05:08 +0000

Oddly, John, I have in fact tested this against three-year olds with sticks. My brother’s wife asked me for advice on papier-mache, so I offered it thinking it was for a school project. I didn’t realize that she was making a pinata. You remember that scene in Parenthood where Steve Martin can’t break the pinata? Yeah. It was that. It was finally my brother and a baseball bat with the pinata on the ground.

By: John Burridge

John Burridge — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 06:27:17 +0000

Wow,

Thanks for this posting — I’ve been wanting to make a fish ever since I read your posting about (the highly toxic process) of using a hot air gun to weld blue foam. I have just one question: have you tested your creations against the destructive power of three-year-olds with sticks (it’s amazing how quickly they find sticks in the most surprising of places)?

Now all I have to do is convince my partner that filling our living room with a school of electrified light-up fish is a Good Idea. Hmmm, maybe he’ll settle for a fish chandelier ala the exploding crockery one in the MOMA.

PS: Congratulations on your recent “big three” sale.