The Unicorn Orgy
This is fairly old hat, I know it's been featured on SomethingAwful.com and everything, but I think it gains new relevance when posted to a paper craft comm: (Please note: Linked site is NSFW) The Unicorn Orgy. It's weird and hilarious but fairly well made, I think. It's also a great example of what you can do with paper mache. It doesn't take expensive materials or special equipment to give your strange dream images physical form. Now, someone might say that that's not always a good thing...

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

New maintainer
Hello everyone.

I was made maintainer to help keep the community on topic. From now on, no more spam in your paper craft community! 

(3 Comments |Comment on this)

I want to use my life-sized manequin as a mold, but I'm scared it's going to stick to her and I won't be able to get it off later, lol. Should I just use plastic bags between her and the paper mache or is there a better way to go about this?

Sorry for being such a newb ;)

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

A Project I'm contemplating
So I was wondering if folks could give me a few pointer on Paper Mache.

I've been kicking around an idea for the last year or so, of building a large "undead-Dragon" for a local LARP i play in.

I've been imagining something like a T-Rex skull thaat would fit over the head  & Shoulders of one person, and building out a large body of the Dragon similar to one of the Chinese Dragons you see out for thier New Years festivals.  But with Bones and such vs. the sparkeldies & glitter.

I was wondering if anyone had some pointers on making a large item like this?

The Plan was to have a sort of harness that would strap to the wearers chest/shoulders to distribute the weight. I was thinking something like the rack from a backpack, with the pipes extended over the wearers head.  The Frame of the Skull would be attached to that.

I'd thought, I'd make a basic Frame that went from front to back, basically shaping the centerlines along the 3 major Axis. Then work Chicken wire over that w/ the appropriate cutouts and such for the skull.

one of the things that I'm wondering about is how to paint it to get that nice "old bone" color.

And does anyone have any tips on making it smooth?
 

Current Mood: curious

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

Group Website link?

Thought I'd post a note to the moderator here.  I tried clicking through on the link to the website on the community profile and it's coming up as a bad link.  Is the site down, or is it being eaten by my  companies web-filter?

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

dino
hey guys.

I'm planning a full-size PM triceratops. Since it's so big, I'm making it in three parts: head, body, tail. I'm planning a male-female system of sttachment, since I need a STURDY, simple, lightweight method of assembly and dissasembly.

Forgive the analogy, really: On the head and tail there will be a long PVC pole protruding from the middle of the base of each piece, along the general lines of where the spine would be. I'll probably use stiff PVC. In the body will be two female tunnels leading into the body cavity. The skull and tail will be lifted and the poles inserted into the tunnels, male into female.

I'm struggling with some of the details, but I actually made an appointmebt with a sutructural engineer to help me work out issues of balance, assembly, and strength. He charges 120/hr, but I think neeed aprofessional to help me troubleshoot. I made a full-size horse once, and problems with balance and weight made it not stay upright.

I've scored a lot of free support stuff. Newspapers are everywhere. Fabric stores trash out the bolt boards. I'll use fabric tape to attach some of the pieces and maybey leather ties. There are a ton of supplies I could use to attach the poles to the fram that support the PM, but really, my experience making drums has taught me that leather made wet and dried is a fucking STRONG material. Axes and other things hundreds of years old have lasted with leather lashing, so I'll probably use metal bolts and things, and rawhide leather lashing to support the joints. Its really amazing how rawhide, once wet, tied, and allowed to dry gets - it's as strong as metal.

Any suggestion for making large-scale stuff is welcome. I'm hoping I can find a way to make the PM strong enough to not crack or break under its own weight, but I think really good framework will do the trick. Luckily, I live in Phoenix, AZ, so my layers will dry incredibly fast.

(6 Comments |Comment on this)

Mask Project
Hello, newbie alert (both to paper maché and this community)

It seems that I will be involved in a mask project next month. The idea is to create approximately 25 paper maché masks.
I think that five people working together for two afternoons can achieve this goal.

I believe this is the material we'll need:

5 basic plastic mask models
aluminium foil
strips of newspaper
wallpaper glue
under-layer paint
metallic paint
ornaments (strings of pearls, fabric flowers, feathers, ...)
(super)glue
ribbons
adhesive hangers
plastic gloves

I think this is a reasonable procedure to follow:

1. Tear newspapers into strips and prepare a dish with wallpaper glue


2. Cover master mask in aluminium foil


3. Put several layers of paper strips + glue horizontally, vertically and diagonally over the mask (keep eyes free)


4. Leave to dry


5. Remove master mask


6. Paint under-layer


7. Paint with metallic colours


8. Decorate with pearls, fabric, feathers etc


9. Stick adhesive hangers onto inside of the mask at cheekbone height


10. Add ribbons to tie mask to the head

Points 3 and 6 are still a bit unclear.
How many layers will we need to make the masks sturdy enough to be worn for an evening by young adults?
Do we have to wait for each layer to dry completely before putting the next?
What kind of paint can we use for the under-layer?

For the secrets of the handiwork itself, I think I'll rely on the instructions given on Papier-maché Art by Ellen Carlier.
Plenty of inspiration for the decorations can be drawn from Bluemoon Masks.

Looking forward to your input and thanking in advance,

uktena

Current Mood: artistic

(8 Comments |Comment on this)

5 Year Old
My daughter, who is 5, wants to do a papier mache project. I'm an artist, but I mostly work with pencils and inks, so I'm not too familiar with papier mache as a medium... So I need advice.

What do you think would be a good project for a beginner? Something that will turn out nice but isn't too hard to make? Also, what's your favorite recipe for papier mache? I can't seem to find any of the premade stuff in any of the craft stores around here.

I am considering doing a project that involves a balloon. Something sturdy... maybe a bird with a fat balloon body and a short neck, so that it doesn't break off. I could use wires for feet. Does that sound like a good first project for a preschooler?

I'm nervous about starting a project that might be too much for her to handle.

(7 Comments |Comment on this)

I just had to share this, this guy (Mark Patraw) is just amazing with paper mache!

http://www.angelfire.com/ult/ace/figure_index.html

These are mostly monsters and robots from video games. Some are rather cute, but some, like the Doom and Silent Hill monsters, are REALLY creepy. Every thumbnail you click will take you to a page with several views of the sculpture, a nice blurb about the origins of the character, and usually some great in-progress shots of the artwork!

A more detailed progress sequence is shown for this neat skeleton monster on this page. It's so intricate yet made out of dirt cheap and spare materials! It's amazing what you can do with some glue and paper and cardboard (and chocolate-covered cashews, in the case of the blood soul).

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

Glue questions.
Hi!

I'm new to the community, and not very experienced with papier mache. I've had some trouble with glue before, so I thought I's ask here. What sort of glue do you mostly use when layering with paper? I'm planning on covering a cardboardbox with book pages to make it a nicer-looking paper basket. I could just dilute water soluble glue with water, but I would need quite a lot of it. Also a problem I've had with that glue is that it dries too fast and won't stick to the surface properly. Would adding flour paste make it dry slower?
Where do you buy your varnish from, by the way? Do you recommend using decoupage varnish? What is that consistent of, anyway? I have something called boat varnish, that's thick, but very smelly. I suppose that could be eliminated by painting the paper with the glue solution first, and letting one layer of varnish dry well before adding the next one.

(5 Comments |Comment on this)

These were all started with paper mache.

The detailed puting together of the hand with the eye is HERE

That silly looking tree is HERE

and the female centaur is HERE

The cans behind the doll are just soup cans covered with paper mache and painted with flourescent colors. They come in handy for everything under the sun.

The Sea Witch was started with aluminum foil, covered in paper mache, then smoothed over with Sculpey.

(Comment on this)

huge flower pinata...
Ok, so I cheated and used mostly cardboard and masking tape, but the middle was paper mache. I made a huge pinata that turned out really well! I made it for a little girls' bday party at church, and I just cut the petals out of cardboard and taped them to the paper mached balloon. I made the petals thick by using two petals and connected them with a strip of cardboard. Does that make sense? It took about 4 hrs total. I used 3 whole rolls of masking tape, and didn't have time to do the entire flower in paper mache because it was a last minute sort of thing, but it looked really great after it was painted. But I remembered reading somewhere that you should always paint cardboard white before adding any color so that color will show up better. I painted the petals purple and the middle part orange. I made it so strong that the kids couldn't bust it apart with the plastic bat, but they had fun trying!:P

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

skull project
So I made my first successful batch of skulls, and just in time for Halloween! Instead of trying to go the hard way, I ended up making them flat on one side, and paper macheing(sp?) the face. They look great, and very sturdy. But they aren't finished. They are telling me they want more. Like some crossbones, or to be glued onto something, maybe like a little art house made out of cardboard. I don't know. I really thought some people collected skulls, you know, outside of Halloween. But maybe I am mistaken. I guess I'm just thinking about motorcycle mama's, I don't know. Skulls fit in w/ the Grateful Dead scene, don't they? I need some ideas.Help.

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

Hi we're new to this community and paper mache. We want to know good recipes for "pulpy" paper mache. So far we've only used flour/water paste and strips of newspaper. We want to go to the next level. Any tips? We tried boiling newspaper.

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

you can't die!!!!
OH, I noticed everyone has been silent here and that just can't be so. I'm just now getting into some paper mache projects, and want to do more, and I need some tips, ideas, brainstorming thoughts to keep me going. Right now I'm working on making skulls. Possibly rig them up to put a little battery powered light in, and it's going slow because I have other things rolling along, but I was wondering what else i can make, things I might possibly sell, or just enjoy making. Skulls are tougher than I thought, actually, I didn't use the flour paste at first, used glue/water paste, and that just wasn't very strong. If anybody's out there, let me know what your making!!!!!!

Current Mood: calm

(5 Comments |Comment on this)

Just wanted to let you all know about an awsome community called sexy_domestics.

(Comment on this)

PM Furniture
Has anyone tried making furniture like chairs, tables, or cabinets out of papier-mache? Any tips? Especially any inexpensive materials to use will be very helpful, as I'm low on income x_x Metals or wood added to papier-mache wouldn't be my best bet either...

(12 Comments |Comment on this)

i wanna make a paper mache outfit.
any ideas on how to make it good?

Current Mood: cheerful

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

so, whats some crazy shit ppl have been doing with their paper mache lately? i just remembered i was in this community.. its so inspired me. im gonna go make a full body cast tonite and stay in it for a week, pretending to be a paraplegic. sweet as.

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

yay! paper mache rules!! i once made a bowl out of it when i was about 10, but the rats living in the roof came and ate it while i was sleeping... i want to make a house out of paper mache?? is this advised??

Current Mood: creative

(1 Comment |Comment on this)