How To Make Pulp Ala Miranda Rookhttp://www.papiermache.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-make-pulp-ala-miranda-rook/

Miranda uses glossy magazine paper and egg cartons to make her pulp.

You will need:

- Glossy magazines- Egg cartons- Colander- Drainage bag- Papier mache paste of choice- Electrical tools (adults only!)

Let's go!

1. Save up carton egg boxes and glossy magazines.

Approximately 10 to 12 carton egg boxes and 1 or 2 medium size glossy magazines to fill a bucket. Tear strips with the grain (for ease) and then into one inch pieces (take care to remove staples or glued spines). Make sure you separate and mix the magazine and egg box pieces thoroughly; wade your hand through the bucket before adding plenty of water, then leave to soak over-night.

Most egg boxes dissolve very easily and already have a lot of glue in them and the glossier the magazines the more clay feel you’ll get to your pulp.

2. Pour the soggy mixture into your sink and knead (children love this).

3. Providing the mixture is wet enough you can use your kitchen mixer until you have beaten the entire amount of paper totally to mash. Mixing bowls with a lid that allows the mixer through are ideal for this to limit little chunks escaping (not pictured).

For bigger amounts you can use a drill with a special drill bit or a plaster mixer attachment. The drill will beat the mixture to pulp more efficiently.

4. Drain off the excess water using a colander and a stocking or a draining bag; squeeze as much water out as you can.

5. Divide the pulp into usable chunks, roll into balls and let dry for use as and when needed.

6. The dried balls will be rock hard. To use, add water until they fall apart again and then mix in some PVA glue or wall paper paste with your mixer. Decide for yourself how much - maybe about an egg cup per ball.

If you want a finer consistency you can use your stick blender to bash the mash to even finer pulp. Tackle small amounts at a time (coffee mug size) and make sure the mixture is just soggy enough so you don’t burn out the motor of your kitchen equipment, but it isn’t too runny either.

I find this pulp very easy to make (no boiling, bleach or weeks of soaking) and very easy and clean to work with (it doesn’t stick to your fingers and doesn’t drip everywhere). It keeps for weeks in or out of the fridge. I always seem to have a pot on the go and keep making more assure a supply of balls readily available for use.

Have fun and may all your artwork turn out absolutely brilliant.

Wendy's Way

Wendy Harford lifts the lid on the techniques she uses for her fabulous creations.

Author: Wendy Harford Added: November 10, 2006 Views: 104,444 Page: 1 of 2

Wheat Paste Recipe:

(Sticks well to most things except plastic!)

You will need:

- Water- White flour (easy blend works really well, but must contain gluten)- Salt- Weldbond or exterior (brown) woodworkers glue- Large mixing bowl - Storage container (large empty plastic milk or juice carton)- Long mixing spoon- Kettle or pot for boiling water

Proportions to use

Mixing in the following proportion works best to cook it properly! So if you are going to need more, make in these proportions and mix together after. Trying to cook this will just burn it to the bottom of the pot, no matter how much stirring and labour.

- 1 litre luke warm water- ¼ cup of table salt as preservative - 1 litre all purpose white flour- 1 litre BOILING WATER

You may decide to leave out the salt as it can react with some of the finishes. If so, just mix a batch as you need it and use it up straight away, making sure it is dried out before mould sets in! If mould does set in, a good spray of common household bleach should correct that, but be very drying on your hands!

How to make the paste

Stir salt (optional) and flour into lukewarm water until well mixed. I use an egg whip by hand but a blender also works.

Pour in BOILING WATER! Stir quickly into the white flour mix. This cooks the paste and activates the gluten.

Allow to cool before using. You can add clove oil, witch hazel or other anti fungal for long storage.

Keep refrigerated and air dry in a dry location as it can go mouldy in dampness. In this desert climate it is best done in the summer months and air dried outside! But I do it indoors all the time where there is dry heat . Remember though there will be humidity released as it dries depending on the size of piece! Watch for mould and wipe with a fungal solution if mould

starts to form, usually the salt will inhibit this. Or use some clove oil, witch hazel etc. I have also washed moulding pieces with laundry bleach straight from the bottle.

Note: Add woodworkers glue to the amount you choose to use at any time. 50% woodworkers glue to 50% wheat paste makes a stronger quicker drying substance! You can use this for slabs, strips, fabrics, paper twigs and mush.

Paper Mush

The Vancouver Sun (yes you do need to do research on which of your local papers works best for mush, slabs, twigs etc.) is the best for this process. It makes a wonderful clay-like mush for sculpting and filling in spaces or covering for a wonderful effect. Also colours will vary according to inks in papers so make up a full batch per project if you don’t intend to paint it, then refrigerate until used up! It can be mixed with some bleach if mould starts to grow.

How to make the mush

Tear up into small confetti like pieces, several pages of the paper. Hint: The Vancouver Sun tears best from top to bottom, and I usually tear very narrow strips and then cut with scissors, though tearing is better for the fibre.

Put the cut up paper into a large pot (that you don’t want to use for anything else!) Fill about ½ full with the paper and top up with water. Now boil the heck out of it and stir until you have a grey paper pulp. Pour into a towel and hang to drain. When cool you can squeeze out the remaining water and break it up into a large mixing bowl. Add the wheat paste/woodworkers glue to it, mash it and knead it. It should be a non sticky but clay-like consistency. Now create away, but not too thick - one layer at a time!

Slabs

Just about any non gloss newsprint will do for this - glossy can separate. Depending on the size of your creation of course, but I usually start with full sheets of paper. On a flat, smooth surface lay out one full sheet of newsprint and cover with wheat paste/glue mix. Spread evenly with your hands (yes, your hands!). Carefully lay on a second sheet starting at the top, as if applying wallpaper. Smooth down and out, applying more paste/glue mix and smoothing out the layer, expelling any extra paste from between the sheets by smoothing outwards. Repeat a minimum of 9 times, better still 12 to 20 times, depending on structural use! Now you have a leather like slab you can mould into or around just about any shape. You can tear it, cut it to shape, fold it, or roll the edges. Remember to wrap any mould you are using in plastic unless you want the slab to stick to it (e.g. if applying it to a glass or plastic cup for use as a vase or planter). Let it rest once you are happy with the shape, but not dry if you are applying things to it, like embedded objects or driftwood etc. Once you are completely happy with your piece other than maybe draping, beading or finishing, let it dry thoroughly.

The Offering - Made of a single slab, 20 layers of newsprint full size sheets, laid into a hollow mould, twisted then torn around the edges. Decorative pieces of the cut slab were used to raise a detail on the outside of the bowl during its leather stage. Corn mosaics were glued into place after drying and then a polymer resin was poured over to seal and protect the mosaic.

Twigs

Twigs are fun for framing, coil building (just like clay) structures, wrapping, raised patterns, or for wherever your imagination takes you. Start as for a slab - a whole sheet of news print. Apply paste/glue, then fold in half lengthwise, applying paste/glue to the new surface and smooth out air bubbles and excess paste from first layer, fold again and repeat the process to about 1" thickness. With more paste applied, gently twist the length into a twig or rope shape and store it in a plastic bag while you make however many more you are anticipating needing for your project. The great thing about papier mache is that you can always add more even after it dries so don’t worry about being too precise. The bad thing about papier mache is that every page and/or mache mix will be a slightly different colour due to inks, but if you are staining or painting, who cares! Store each twig in the plastic bag and store in a fridge for later use if necessary. You can now use the twigs to make a coil pot, vase, box, make a raised pattern on an existing piece, or just weave for a fun effect or whatever. Weave with real twigs, ribbon or again, I invite you to use your imagination!

Turtle Island - 48 inches around, all of coiled paper twigs, like making a hand-built coiled pot. The frame was a beach ball and the lid was kept separated during drying with recycled plastic bags. The finish is sand-painted on with crushed sandstone and white sand, as well as faux acrylic bronze painting. The continents and the directional current arrows were layered on after the framework had dried, from cut out paper slabs and small paper twigs.

Strips

Strips we have all done. Remember balloon piñatas? So Vancouver Sun is again best for tearing, but different papers will have their own grain so find which direction tears best and use it to your advantage. You want strips about 1 to 1.5 inches thick and about 6 to 8 inches long. You can always shorten as you need to and even tear thinner as you apply in tight areas. For this you need a structure of some kind - cardboard, chicken wire, balloon, or pre-existing mould (usually halved for reuse, once each side is dry you remove from mould, place sides together and use more strips to close the seam).

Now you have come this far try using fabric, seaweed (well rinsed first), photos, grasses, dry softened leaves and dried flowers, coloured threads, natural threads… and on and on it goes. Let your imagination run wild!

Acrylic paints are best for painting, while oil based varethene or linseed oil are best for finish coats. You can use wood stain, tea, or instant coffee for staining! Basically treat papier mache work as you would a piece of wood you are finishing - sand it, stain it, oil it, paint it, tattoo it!

My latest find is using an exterior masonry sealant (miracle sealer, silicon rubber). This blends really well with other finishing products and adhesives on sand covered pieces. It allows the sand to look real (like sandstone) and at the very least makes it water resistant. I haven’t used this much on pottery type pieces as it leaves a very rough finish that can hold bits of food etc. I use an exterior (usually) matte urethane on bowls and such.

Have Fun and remember to clean up really well after each session as this stuff really sticks.

Papier Mache Finishing Techniques

Unpainted papier mache surface:

A paper mush made of printed or unprinted news print can be very effective just pressed onto the outer surface of a finished piece, allowed to dry, then sanded for a marbled, spalded look. Hand rub with a linseed oil or other wood finish product.

Play Me - Life sized guitar body sculpture. Armature of cut-out recycled cardboard, unprinted newsprint papier mush coating, dried and sanded smooth. Hand rubbed with 6 coats of linseed oil to a marbled or spalded wood finish.

Sand or Soil/Clay Finish

Using weldbond or other clear/white exterior glue, layer on glue then sand/soil and/or clay, layer of glue etc. until you have about 3 layers. Let dry thoroughly and apply a protective matte finish. You can actually do designs with this technique.

Butterfly Platter - Aprox 36 inches across, all of paper slabs, cut into four repeat pattern pieces, draped over a mould and papier mached with small strips together. The finish is approx 4 layers of sand painting, using crushed red sandstone and crushed soft turquoise, as well as naturally occuring white sand.

Metallic Faux Paint

Using acrylic metallic paints, apply several layers and shades. You can tint your metallics with coloured acrylic for better effect, giving it a patina finish. First layer is usually a flat black over all, or at least in the crevices! Last coat is a dry brush of the lightest metallic to give a glow. Try some antique patina looks with teal greens and blues, or oxide for rust, gun metal black for pewter, with a silver finish. I often use an automotive chrome paint for the final coat of a pewter or silver faux finish. Then coat with a satin or gloss clear top coat.

Flamenco - At only 14 inches tall, my bronze foundry thought it was a cast bronze when I took it in for a mould estimate! It is printed newsprint papier mache with an aluminum foil armature. I shaped, dried, carved and shaped some more for the detail. The finish is acrylic metallics tinted with coloured metallics to highlight the colour for a natural patina look. Red to copper and bronze metallic for the male and hansa yellow to the gold in the womans dress.

Painted

I just use quality acrylic paints for this, painting a natural look or a fanciful design. Then finish coat as for metallic faux paint.

Embedded

This can be done while a piece is still in its leather state, particularly when embedding handles or bases right into a bowl or shelf etc. When a piece is dry you can use papier mache twigs and clay to surround and build embedded pieces in to the sculpture/vessel. When embedding structurally I use slabs that are pre-built and then torn into strips to secure the piece to the sculpture/vessel.

DreamWeavers - Structural wall hung shelf unit with embedded candle holders and a rock crystal. Sand painted finish of ground sandstone and metallic bronze faux paint. It is backed with felt and hangs like a painting. Make sure you attach a well secured thick slab or wood base for screwing into on the back. This shelf unit also has an embedded painting as its central focus. The painting was done on 300 # watercolor paper and a wall fixative type adhesive used to attach it. A frame of thin scrunched up slabs was used to build the raised frame which was made of layers of recycled cardboard glued to the original slab shelf unit after it dried.

Just remember that a dried piece of papier mache is actually a wood fibre product and can be treated similarly. Try wood stains, natural stains, burn it, carve it, chip it, drill it, cut it. Working in papier mache is almost endless!

You can also sculpt a solid piece, let it dry, build a mould and then press your paper pulp or slab into the mould for repetitive pieces.

And the one finish I have yet to learn (on this years list of things to do) Metal Fusion. I have seen, and am told that you can create your finished papier sculpture and then spray on a thin layer of (metal fusion) bronze, pewter etc. to create a finished metal sculpture. You then treat it like a real bronze/pewter piece with patina finish. You have way more control over your process than sending it off to the foundry and waiting months for completion and the added expense!

One last thought. The outdoor projects I have heard about used an automotive/industrial gloss spray on finish for the highest waterproofing sealcoat. It is my belief that no papier mache pieces should be subjected to constant imersion or standing in water, just because water has its way of finding the tiniest cracks. Also the silicon rubber masonry sealant added to all the

adhesives helps a great deal, but mostly to the point of water resistance (run-off) and not water proofing.

Corn Maiden - Life-sized chicken wire armature, corn kernel and husk mosaic, with crushed sandstone finish. She actually lifts off the box base, cement weighted for easy transport.

http://www.papiermache.co.uk/tutorials/wendys-way/2/

You can see more of my pieces at www.wendyharford.com/gallery

Boston Terrier

Directions to make a lovely Boston Terrier which you could easily adapt to any other breed of dog.

Http://www.papiermache.co.uk/tutorials/boston-terrier/2/

Introduction

This tutorial is dedicated to Dorothy who sadly lost her Boston and wanted to make one.

You will need:

- Newspaper- Masking tape (1 inch wide)

- Wallpaper paste- Sa papers- White rice paper- Plastic craft eyes- Water based satin varnish

Making the head

Head

Tear pieces of tape and stick the corners to the work table edge so they look like items of washing hanging on a line. Take pieces of tape as you need them and replenish as required.

Make a ball shape by scrunching up a piece of paper and taping it. Now add more small scrunches until the ball is the size you want.

Making the ears

Ears

Make 2 triangles for the ears and tape them. Don't worry if they're too big, you can trim them once they're in place. Add the little nodes to the bottom of the ear by using bits of tape until you get the right shape. The ears are very distinctive.

Lightly attach the ears with tape to the middle of the top of the head - not the back of the head. Use tiny scrunches and tape to build up the thickness of the ear and attach firmly to the head. Trim the ears to shape and re-tape the cut edges.

Making the neck

Neck

To make the neck, take a half sheet of paper and roll it into a sausage shape. Now fold the sausage in half and start to twist it all the way along and tape it so it is fixed in the twisted shape. This adds strength.

Joining the neck to the head

Place the neck at the back of the head and tape it on thoroughly using long strips. Add appropriate size scrunches to the neck and the back of the head so the neck is very firmly attached to the head.

To do the dog's muzzle, you will need photographs of a Boston Terrier - one full face and one profile. Checking constantly with the photos, start to add small scrunches halfway down the face and build up the shape. Don't worry if your dog looks a bit like a pig at this stage as this often happens. It'll come right in the end, I promise!

Where head meets neck

Making the body

To build up the body, (this is to be a sitting up dog), make larger scrunches and tape them to the bottom of the neck. Add more scrunches and start to elongate the body. Tape each scrunch very firmly. Build up the back of the head with small scrunches and tape.

Get the body firmly attached to the head and neck using scrunches and tapes. Twist the head so it's slightly cocked to one side and looking up. Next you need to add more tiny scrunches at the front and back of the neck to tidy up where you twisted.

Keep going until the dog's body length looks the right size for the head. In other words it looks in proportion, you have to use your own judgement here. You can rip bits off or add bits as required. Make him a little bigger across the shoulders, although when we add his two front legs his chest will expand nicely.

Keep checking your dog against a good photograph in the pose you're making. At the end of the last stage my dog looked a bit like a pig. At this stage he looks like a mummified Egyptian cat, but have faith! I promise he'll come out looking like a Boston Terrier! Have fun, it's really not hard. Just know that you can do it. If it doesn't look right, leave it awhile and come back and fiddle with it and put bits on and take bits off until it does look right.

Taking Shape

Adding the front legs

Firstly, check that you are sure your dog's body and back is long enough for you to put the legs on. Then take a long sheet of paper and roll it into a sausage shape. Fold it in half, twist it down its whole length and tape each twist so it stays fixed. This adds strength. It looks awful at this stage resembling a bone, but you're going to add lots of small scrunches to flesh it out. Hold your 'bone' against the dog with the foot end on the table top and trim it to fit. Leave enough length that you can tape it securely on to the chest or the flanks of your animal, leaving an extra inch at least on the length you actually want the legs to be.

Tail

Tape the leg on to the chest, or the shoulder at the side if the dog is standing up. Tape under and over and across. Add small scrunches all down the leg until the leg is shapely and the right thickness. Have one leg a little further back than the other to suggest movement. Put big scrunches on the chest or the shoulder. This will both fix the legs on firmly and start to define the shape of your animal's shoulders and chest.

A boston is a bulldog and terrier mix and will have a strong chest and shoulders and a thickish bulldog neck. Just keep adding or ripping bits off until you're happy with it. Press bulging bits

down and tape them. Fill in dents and hollows you don't want with tiny scrunches, or just small bits of tape.

Making the feet

To make a foot, roll a small ball of paper and tape it. Attach it to the front of the leg. Make sure it lies flat on the table. Start to add tiny scrunches at the sides, the top, the back and underneath to give you a nice little paw shape. Make it slightly broader at the front.

Turn one paw inwards to give the dog a gauche look. These little touches add charm to the finished dog. I don't define the toes but you can if you want to but don't ask me how! Go and have a cup of tea and leave it for half an hour or more and when you come back you'll see where you need to add or remove bits.

Build up the back of the dog. Get the length right - only you can judge that, but if it's a sitting up dog one good way to judge the length of the back is correct is to stand the dog on his front paws as if he was going to walk. If the back's too short it will be glaringly obvious. I'd already got my legs on and discovered the back wasn't long enough, so before I put the feet on I added more to the length of the back. I then added several small scrunches to the end of the legs and taped them very thoroughly before adding the feet.

Keep the dog's hips and bottom narrow at this stage, don't make them too broad. When we tape on the back legs and the 'muscle', it increases the hips quite a bit.

Feet

Making the back legs

Make the legs the same length as the front legs. Follow the instructions as above, but don't put a paw on the end of the leg.

Fold the top third of the leg forward and tape it. Tape a small scrunch on to the outer bend of the leg to make a 'knuckle'. This defines the bend of the leg. Build up the leg and paw area now as it will be more difficult once it's fixed in place. Flatten the short end of the leg (I just stand on it) and tape the leg carefully on to the hip so the leg is resting on the work surface. Adjust the position and tape well, making sure the 'knuckle' is showing.

Back leg

Now, using large and small scrunches and plenty of tape, fix the leg to the body. Keep looking at photographs of sitting dogs to get the pose as right as you can. I always find this the hardest part. Work at it until it looks right. Build up the back or shoulders a bit more if necessary and make a little twist for the tail and tape that securely on. You are now ready to decorate.

Decorating your dog

I use plastic craft animal eyes and have used quite large ones for this Boston. I put some white rice paper round her eyes as Bostons seem to show a lot of white around the eyeball. I left a bit of the white showing when I put the brown paper on. I may have to touch up the white with a bit of white acrylic paint at the end, as the brown paper bled a little.

I'm using Sa papers to decorate my dog but you could papiér maché with newspaper, allow it to dry thoroughly and paint it instead. When dry, paint all over with white household emulsion to seal it, then decorate with acrylic paints. Note: Make up the wallpaper paste by putting the water in the bowl first, then add a little wall paper paste powder and stir. Wait and see if it's the right consistency before adding more powder. I like the paste fairly thick, but not so thick I can't stir it around. If you add water to paste you get a nasty unworkable lump!

You could decorate with sugar/construction paper or plain tissue paper or matte coloured paper torn from magazines or newspaper supplements but the colours fade after a while if left in bright light. I do the face first. Cover the lower face with white paper then the head and ears with brown. Work up the face with white around the muzzle. The nose is small bits of black paper and while wet you can give it a gentle push in and upwards to help the squashed in look.

I'm going to put 'freckles' of brown mulberry tissue around the muzzle and work out how to do the mouth as I go along.

Cover the chest and legs in white and the back in brown or black whichever you prefer. Every time you finish with the wet papiér maché-ing, take 5 minutes to go over and over it with your hands, smoothing and blending carefully. This makes a terrific difference to the end product. Allow to dry completely. Do any necessary cosmetics. Varnish with a water based satin varnish.

Painted

Finished Example

Below is the finished Boston Terrier. Someone pointed out that Boston Terriers are black and white so I decided to change Wag's colour.

Finished Example

Giraffe

Curtis Manges shows us in detail how he made a superb papier mache giraffe and gives plenty of tips and ideas to get your model as realistic as possible.

http://www.papiermache.co.uk/tutorials/giraffe/

Philosophy

First of all, a bit of artistic philosophy: as an artist, you have no obligation to your audience; your only obligation is to your muse. The reason for this is that almost all audiences contain at least one critic; some audiences are composed entirely of critics. Your inspiration comes from the muse, not the critics. If you think the inspiration is peculiar, don't worry, just do the thing as faithfully as you can to the vision you have of it. Every true work of art will find its own audience, but if you compromise the work, it won't be true, and you won't be happy with it.

Introduction

When you start an animal project, get as many photos as you can find of the animal, so you can study its proportions and structure. Do this even if you don't intend it to be very realistic; you have to know the rules before you can get away with breaking them.

You will need:

- Plastic hand lotion bottle- Wire- String- Newspaper- Masking tape- Block florist's foam- Paper clay- Stiff plastic tubing- White emulsion paint- Silicone sealant

For information and suggestions for the eyes, shoes, mane, tail tuft and finishing details, see "A few notes on the details" at the end of the tutorial.

Beginning

The body is built around a hand lotion bottle which has been modified. Here you see that I have cut out a portion of the bottom. I stuffed a rag into it so the cut would show up well in the photo.

The reason for this cut-out is that an animal's body tapers behind the ribs; this cut-out reflects that shape.

I closed the cut by stitching it with string. The result was a little uneven, but that gets fixed in the final shaping with paper.

Base for body

Building the legs

This photo shows the wires I put through the bottle to serve as legs. Notice that there are two wires at the back end; I also used two at the front. This gives extra stiffness to the legs and keeps them from swivelling about while you work on the project.

Another view, this time with the wires of the rear legs bent into shape. Notice that only one wire runs the whole length of the leg; the other goes only about halfway.

Rear legs

For some reason, I removed the front wire while working on the back legs. Here I've begun to build up muscle on the legs.

Cut a piece of newspaper into a square and roll that into a cone shape, with a corner of the square becoming the point of the cone. Make it several sheets thick, adjust the width of the

cone, and tape it together. Then flatten it against the sculpture, trim with scissors if needed and tape it in place.

Lots of tape!

I used a lot of masking tape on this; parts of it are more tape than anything else.

Here I've added the front legs. Notice the added buildup of contour on the hind legs.

Front legs

Rear view

Rear view at about the same stage of progress.

At this point, the legs are all pretty well fleshed out. Notice that I've had to add some additional material to the body to fill out the chest. This was a piece of the green foam used later for the neck and head.

It looks a little creepy without a head!

Creepy!

Foundations for the head

This is what I did for a foundation for the head and neck. This is a block of that green foam that florists use for dried or silk flower arrangements. I shaped the end of it to fit tight against the body and glued it on with silicone adhesive/sealant.

Lots of changes here. I've shaped the neck and head and added the eyes, horns and tail, and begun to apply papier-mâché. The white stuff around the eyes and the jaw is an air-drying material called paper-clay. The horns are lengths of stiff plastic tubing. Notice the tail tuft, which at this point is made of feathers. I changed it later.

Shaping the head

Finishing the legs

Here he is with the shoes. I determined that they needed to go on early, to avoid damage to other delicate details of the head and neck, so I finished the lower legs complete to the final paint job.

All papier-mâché'd, with the ears installed and a new tail-tuft, along with little tufts on the horns.

All papier-mached!

Complete with mane

Here he is with the mane and the undercoat of white paint. Be careful not to get paint on the mane.

A few notes on the details

Eyes

I didn't want to paint the eyes on this guy, so I made my own eyeballs for him. I carved a hemispheric depression in a block of wax (soap might work also) and poured in clear epoxy. For the irises, I painted small flat washers and submerged them into the wet epoxy. When it set, I turned them over and cast the other side, making (crudely) round eyeballs. I actually had them done before I found fake eyeballs available from taxidermy supply companies, cheap and good-looking.

Shoes

I made the shoes myself, because I didn't think I'd find any suitable elsewhere. They are one inch long, and the soles are of a textured cloth like seersucker. The uppers are poly-cotton from a shirt I was going to throw out. I treated all the cloth with a thin layer of silicone adhesive (on the inside) to prevent it from unraveling, and the parts are glued together with the same stuff. The uppers consist of only two pieces, and have working laces made of kitchen string. Eyelet holes were done with a leather punch, and the shoes were painted prior to installing the laces. Be aware that paint does not want to stick to the silicone adhesive.

Mane

The mane is made from feathers, courtesy of my pet bird. After separating the feathers right and left (you want them all to curve the same direction), I stripped the veins and cut uniform pieces from them until I had enough for the length of the mane, plus some extra. I carefully trimmed the ends and glued the spines onto the center of a thin piece of cloth with silicone. Very tedious work. I sprayed clear matte varnish on to prevent them being ruined by the final paint job. Then I trimmed this whole thing to length and papier-mâché'd it in place. The final paint on the feathers is diluted.

Tail tuft

The tail tuft is made of sewing thread, double-saturated with acrylic artist color to give it stiffness. This was then wound in close turns around a dowel rod. I cut a narrow strip of masking tape, painted it to match, and laid it lengthwise across the turns and cut along one side of it to release it from the dowel. Then, to simulate hair of differing lengths, I cut some notches along the length of this assembly. Think of pinking shears, but on a much larger scale. Finally, I wrapped this in a tight spiral around the end of the tail wire.

When I began the project, I was concerned about the texture of papier-mâché. My only previous experience with this medium was in grade school, and I recalled it being lumpy. Practicing on scrap, I found that enough force and finesse would get most of the lumpiness out, but I was still worried that it would show up in a strong light. To solve this, I got a package of sand at a craft store. This is the very fine stuff that comes in colours, so you can do

sand paintings with it. I got the nearest I could to white, brushed a coat of paste on the sculpture (avoiding the eyes and mouth), and sprinkled the sand liberally on. This breaks up the highlights at harsh edges. If you can still see a crease or corner, you can camouflage it with your paint job by locating the edge of a block of colour along the edge of the offending crease.

All done, and smiling for the camera

Finished example

Finished example

Blue Tit

David demonstrates how to make a realistic, lightweight paper mache blue tit.

http://www.papiermache.co.uk/tutorials/blue-tit/

Introduction

I like the sheer weightlessness that can be achieved with paper sculpture and producing pieces that seem to defy gravity.

One of the challenges I set myself was to make a bird that would seem to sit on the very edge of a shelf, without falling off. Here is how it was done.

The basis for my structure was a turkey egg. Although this meant that the blue tit would be larger than life size, this didn't worry me. If you want to be more accurate, use a bantam's egg.

For details of how to prepare this, read my article on eggs.

You will need...

- Egg- Wire- Hot glue gun- Plasticine- Cling Film- Thin cardboard- Peppercorns (for eyes)- Paints

Making the Blue Tit

Bend a piece of wire to form two platforms - one will become the base, which protrudes to the back of the bird, the other needs to fit to the egg, holding it at an appropriate angle for the body.

Forming the wire

Anchoring the footpad in place, hot glue the wire to the egg.

Anchoring the footpad

With plasticene, model the head shape and then cover the whole with clingfilm.

Plasticine head

Covering with clingfilm

Lay at least three layers of paper strips over the head section and allow to dry.

Adding paper strips

Pull off the head section and the clingfilm; pull out the plasticene. Refit the now empty head onto the shell and apply two layers of paper strips all over.

You can see that this is now very light – only 14.5 gms.

Refitting the head

Cut cardboard shapes for the tail and wings and glue them on. Apply paper strips to smooth the joins and to create texture if you want.

Even with these, the weight only goes up to 19.5 gms (about the weight of a blue tit, I reckon).

Cover the base platform with card and paper strips, keeping it as thin as possible.

Adding the tail and wings

Paint the bird as realistically as you can.

Paint realistically

Add eyes (I used peppercorns). Create the claws with fine wire, either hot glued or bound to the leg. Paint the platform black to be inconspicuous.

Feed regularly!

Finished Example

Finished example

Make this Frog with Paper Mache Clayby Jonni on December 26, 2009

http://ultimatepapermache.com/paper-mache-tutorial/paper-mache-clay

Paper Mache Frog

I spent my Christmas vacation making this frog out of newspaper, masking tape, pipe cleaners and paper mache clay. I show you how I did it below. If I did it again I’d use stronger wire in place of the pipe cleaners so I could get thinner fingers and toes, but that’s the only part of the process I’d change.

Real Frog

This is the real frog I used as my model. I’m sorry I don’t know what kind of frog it is.

You can clearly see that my version won’t win any awards at the science fair – but if you spend just a bit more effort than I did you could reproduce the colors and patterns with more accuracy. And with heavier wire instead of the fuzzy pipe cleaners, skinny toes would be possible, too. Wouldn’t it be fun to create a display of poison dart frogs in all their colorful varieties?

You can find photos of many different species of frogs by doing a Google Image search for frog photos. (I don’t know why there’s a mouse riding on one of those frogs…)

You’ll need some patience to make your frog. Like all small paper mache projects, you very quickly run out of dry areas to hold on to, so you’ll need to let your paper mache clay dry several times before you can continue to cover him with more clay. Also, a frog’s legs are perfectly engineered springs, and even when you imitate them with wire the legs tend to move around until the joints are encased in hardened clay. This makes them a bit more difficult to work with. This is definitely not an instant project, but if you like frogs, the results are worth the extra effort.

You could make the frog using traditional paper strips and paste, although the eyes will be more difficult to sculpt, and it will be more difficult to get the nice smooth froggy skin.

Step 1:

Crumple some newspaper into a frog-like shape. I used two balls–the larger one for the body and a smaller, flatter one for the head. You can see the basic shape, from the side, below. Since it gets covered in clay, you don’t need to worry about the weird bumps and valleys. The clay will cover them smoothly.

Crumpled Paper and Masking Tape Frog Shape

Step 2:

Tape the center of one long wire to the frog’s chest, just below the “chin.”

Adding the Front Legs

Step 3:

Now twist the ends of the wire to make the fingers. If you’re using pipe cleaners you’ll need another one for each arm so you’ll have enough for all fingers and some extra length to wind around the arm, strengthening it. Tape any extra wire to the frog’s tummy. It will be covered with paper mache clay, and the extra wire helps to anchor the arms and legs.

Making the Toes

Step 4:

Do the same thing with the back legs, attaching them to the frog’s rear end.

Adding the Back Legs

Step 5:

Use aluminum foil to pad the legs and arms, and use masking tape to cover the toes.

Filling Out the Legs with Aluminum Foil

Step 6:

Begin to cover the frog with your paper mache clay. Cover only as much as you can while holding a dry area of the frog. Then allow the clay to harden in a warm place, and finish the rest. You’ll need to support the legs and fingers while adding your clay to these areas. A very thin layer, 1/8 ” thick, will be enough. Smooth the clay as much as possible with the flat side of your knife while applying it to the frog.

Adding the Clay to the Frog

Step 7.

After the frog has been completely covered and the clay is dry, go back and add a bump of clay for each eye. Look at the real frog’s photo at the top of this page to see how the eye should look. Let the eye harden completely in a warm place, then paint your frog with some home-made gesso:

1 tablespoon of joint compound 1 teaspoon of white glue.

When the gesso is dry, sand your frog, if needed. I found an interesting product at the hardware store this week that helps in sanding small, rounded areas like frog legs, called drywall sanding screen. You can cut the screen with an old pair of scissors and use it like a flexible file. Ordinary sandpaper works just fine, too.

Sanding the Frog

Step 8:

This type of frog has bumps on his back. I used a technique more commonly used by cake decorators: Put some of your home-made gesso (see above) in a small plastic bag and cut off one of the points. Then squeeze small dots of gesso onto your frog’s back, and allow it to dry. Then sand off the little points, and you’ve got some nice frog bumps.

Frog Bumps

Step 9:

The final step, of course, is to paint your frog. I tried to come reasonably close to the patterns and colors of the real frog I used as a model, but I missed a few spots.

Frog, Painted

How to Make a Paper Mache Piggy Bankby Jonni on November 13, 2008

http://ultimatepapermache.com/cheap-art/paper-mache-piggy-bank

Project Difficulty Level: Easy to Challenging

Paper Mache Piggy Bank

<Piggy banks can be made with as much detail, or as little, as you like. For that reason, a piggy bank can be a good project for the beginning paper mache sculptor, and just as challenging for the advanced student. To see what I mean, take a look at the piggy banks over at wikipedia.org.

I decided to use a mini pig photo as the starting place for my piggy bank, but I simplified it a lot. And I did very little painting on the final bank, so the project was fairly easy. I was working towards a  fake antique look, so the paper and paste show through the final coat.

Total cost: less than $1, since I already had some paint and verathane on hand. Photos of the project after the jump.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank Step 1

Step 1:

I start the project with an empty salt container for the body, and four equal-sized scrunched-up paper legs. Some people try to make piggy banks and other simple paper mache projects

using balloons for the inner form, but I think balloons are much too difficult to handle. The salt container in this project adds strength to the finished bank, so only a few layers of newsprint and paste are needed. (If you want your bank to be bigger so you can save more coins, you could use an oatmeal box, instead).

Paper Mache Piggy Bank, Step 2

Step 2:

The legs are taped to the bottom of the salt container with plenty of masking tape.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank, Step 3

Step 3:

I make sure the pig can stand up straight without wobbling too much, and then I start to add the padding. Here you can see I added more paper to piggy’s tail end, and I added small bits of paper to the back of her legs so they will have more piggy shape. No animal has absolutely straight legs.

Real pigs actually have very thin and dainty legs, but I don’t think thin paper  legs would hold up several pounds of quarters, so I’ve fattened up my piggy’s legs, and simplified their shape. I do, however, keep looking at the photo of the mini pig that I found online, even though I know the final piggy bank will not look exactly like a real pig.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank, Step 4

Step 4:

I add more padding to round out the legs and give piggy some elbows and hips. I also add the head. A baby pig’s head is as tall and wide as her body, with a very short neck. I’ll be doing a lot of pushing and prodding and taping to make the inner form the way I want it, before I add the first piece of newsprint and paste.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank, Step 5

Step 5:

I added the snout, ears, and tail. I also taped the feet to a piece of cardboard, which will be removed as soon as the first layer of paper mache has dried and hardened. This step was taken to help make sure the bank will sit level when it’s completed.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank, Step 6

Step 6:

The first layer of newsprint strips have been attached with a simple flour and water paste. Any low spots have been leveled out with extra paper, and piggy is then left to dry out completely before the second layer of paper is added.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank, Step 7

Step 7:

For the second layer I used brown paper, like the type used for brown paper bags. The paper is stiffer than newsprint, so I take care to make sure to use smaller pieces of torn paper, and smooth it down carefully. In this photo most of the second layer has dried, and I’m finishing up around the ears and feet.I also cut a piece of light cardboard to add to the snout to give it more definition. The cardboard will be completely covered with a layer of brown paper.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank, Step 8

Step 8:

After the brown paper layer is completely dry, I sand it to smooth off all the rough edges, and use black paint for the random spots and piggy’s eyes. When the paint is dry, I use a wash of white paint, diluted with some latex glaze, to lighten the black spots a bit. I add the glaze a small bit at a time, and then rub most of it off with a paper towel. When the glaze is dry, I add a final coat of water-based verathane. Both the glaze and verathane were left over from other projects, so I didn’t buy anything for this project. (Whenever possible, I buy my “art supplies” at a hardware store. A tiny bottle of varnish from an art store would probably cost more than my quart of verathane. Since I have a limited income, I wouldn’t be able to play around much with art projects if I didn’t count my pennies.)

Completed Paper Mache Piggy Bank

The finished piggy bank:

Piggy is now ready to start collecting pennies and quarters. This bank will eventually be given to my grandson, but he’s only 18 months old now, so he can’t have the bank yet (he would eat the quarters).

How to Make a Paper Mache Bunny Sculptureby Jonni on December 17, 2008

http://ultimatepapermache.com/cheap-art/paper-mache-bunny-sculpture

Project Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Make this Lop-Eared Bunny Sculpture

This little paper mache lop-eared rabbit was a lot of fun to make, and only cost a few pennies in materials.

I found some wonderful models for my bunny out at MyBunnyBlog.com, and if you happen to live in England you could actually adopt one of the beautiful rabbits they show on their site. For now, I’ll just make do with this little bunny sculpture. If you’d like to make one like it, you can follow the photos below.

Step 1:

As with most of the paper mache projects on this site, the bunny starts out with a wad of newspaper that is made into a ball by taping it tightly with masking tape. The first ball will be the bunny’s body.

Paper Mache Lop-Eared Rabbit, Step 2

Step 2:

Next, I added smaller scrunches of paper for the four legs and the tail.

Paper Mache Lop-Eared Rabbit, Step 3

Step 3:

Now the head is added, and I cut two ears out of the cardboard from a cereal box. I cut tabs at the top of the ears so I can bend them over and use them to tape the ears to the head.

Paper Mache Bunny, Step 3

Step 4:

The ears are taped to the bunny’s head, and a small bump of paper is added at the top to give the ears a realistic curve. I will leave the details, like eyes, nose and toes, until after the first layer of newsprint and paste has dried.

Paper Mache Lop-Eared Rabbit, Step 5

Step 5:

Now the paper and masking tape are completely covered with strips of newsprint and a paste made from flour and water. I had to do this in two stages, first the bottom and then the top, so I’d always have a dry side to lay him on. The bunny was dried in an oven set at 200 F. (Never put paper mache projects in an oven that is hotter than that, because the heat will distort the shape. And never put them near a fire or electric heater, unless you want to burn down your house).

Paper Mache Bunny, Step 6

Step 6:

As soon as the first layer is completely dry, I use some joint compound to round out the bunny’s body.

Many people like to leave the ridges and bumps that are created when you crumple paper – it gives the final project an unmistakable “paper mache” look. However, I like to smooth my

sculptures out, and during my baby whale wall sculpture project I discovered that joint compound is perfect for this purpose. You can buy this product at the hardware store.

As soon as the joint compound is dry, you can easily sand it as smooth as you like. (This is a technique that I have never seen anyone else use, so you can say your heard it first from me!)

Paper Mache Bunny, Step 7

Step 7:

As soon as the joint compound is dry and sanded I start making the details with paper towels that have been dipped in the flour and water paste. Bunnies don’t have too many details, because they’re covered with fur. However, I wanted to have some nice toes, and I built her nose and mouth from pieces of paper towel. I also made her “eyebrows”, and added a bump that some bunnies have on the top of their head.

Paper Mache Lop-Eared Rabbit, Step 7

Step 8:

After the paper toweling is dry, I use some more joint compound to round out the cheeks and forehead, as you can see in the photo below. Then I add the second layer of paper and paste. The second layer is made of brown Kraft paper, like the kind paper bags are made from. I used very small strips around the nose and toes, and used one of my Loew Cornell Clay Tools to push the paper into the creases. You could also use a knife or toothpick for this purpose.

Paper Mache Lop-Eared Rabbit, Step 8

Step 9:

When the second layer of paper is completely dry, I sand it smooth. Then I make up a special “skin coat” of white flour, water and carpenter’s glue. Elmer’s glue would also work. The glue keeps the paste from cracking as it dries. To this mixture I add some white craft glue. To completely cover the rabbit, I use three coats.

Paper Mache Lop-Eared Rabbit, Step 9

Step 10:

The third coat of “skin” paste is brushed on in small sections. Then, before the paste dries I use the little brush that came with my set of Loew Cornell Clay Tools to put “fur” on the rabbit. The fur is dragged into the paste in teh natural direction that fur grows in. I don’t texture the ears or nose, since these are velvety smooth on a rabbit.

I’ve also sketched in the places where the rabbit’s coat will be colored, like a calico cat.

Paper Mache Lop-Eared Rabbit, Step 10

Step 11:

The colored spots are now painted in with craft paint diluted with water. I used a light grey and two colors of brown to duplicate the rabbit’s calico coloring. The ears and cheeks are dark brown. In the second photo below you can see that I’m trying to copy the colors of a real rabbit.

Left-Side

Face

Painting over the fur texture with thinned craft paint creates a nice illusion of real hair, without having to paint in little hairs with a tiny brush. The grooves are filled with paint, while the ridges between each “hair” is just a little bit lighter. I was very pleased with the effect.

The bunny was then finished with a coat of water-based verathane, which you can find at a hardware store.

Completed Paper Mache Bunny