Fabulous Paper Mache

I never thought I will said that one day. But, man ! Papier-maché is flippin’ amazing ! For different reasons :

1. Super cheap
2. Really strong
3. Almost created by french people
4. You can blow people mind when you say you did it with newspaper

The Journey

For the Stage design : Zome I used this technic for molding a ball-joint and cover the eye ball. I needed something cheap and easily sourced.

It takes a lot of time to settle during each layer, but I have the chance to have a hot climate and a burning sun to help drying them.

I follow the approach invented by Ultimate Papier Maché. On my fan lid I put a first layer of newspaper cut in stripes with a mix of water and white glue. Than I put some papier maché clay/paste. I follow the same process and technics but not with the same recipe. I followed the one I learned in kindergarden !

• Warm water
• Put the shred newspaper in it
• Wait for the cellulose to absord some of the water
• Add glue
• Mix a lot
• Apply

What I learned :

I didn’t use measurement, because I prefer to learn what is the right texture by muscle and visual memories. Little tips though :

• if you add more glue, it will be better for assembling two part of papier maché already dried, but it will take more time to settle.
• to smooth the surface, use a piece of wet fabric and press gently.
• you can sand it to make it smooth, or trim it easily
• if you want to paint it, find something better than sray can, didn’t really work for me

I was afraid of the ball-joint not strong enough, but, au contraire, it was really strong and never broke ! The newspaper gave a little organic/stone feeling to the eye. It was awesome !