Ultimate Paper Mache

Animal Sculptures and Advanced Paper Mache Projects.

Archive for the ‘Cheap Art’ category

Bluebird Ornaments – 7-hr Bluebirds Revisited

November 30th, 2009

Bluebird Ornament, Made with Paper Mache Clay

A few weeks ago, Donnisha asked for some tips for making the 7-hr paper mache bluebirds into Christmas tree ornaments. What a great idea! I wrote the bluebird tutorial almost exactly 1 year ago so folks would have a fast, easy way to create a present for someone who loves handmade gifts. (I think most of the bluebirds actually ended up on wedding cakes–a use that had not occurred to me until I read your comments.)

Today’s post is all about little bluebirds that can hang from a tree. They look almost exactly like the ones I made last year, but the one I made today took 4 hours instead of 7. If you wanted to, you could probably make enough for a small Christmas tree in half a day.

I cut down the time with two new techniques. First, I used my paper mache clay recipe instead of torn paper strips and paste. The clay goes on in just one layer, and it doesn’t need to be sanded because it goes on smooth. (You only need about 2 tablespoons of paper mache clay for each bird. The recipe will make about a quart, so you can make lots of birds.

Then, I found a way to hold the birds so the entire surface could be covered in one go. That cut down a lot on drying time.

I know you figured this out already, but all your birds don’t have to be blue. Canary yellow and cardinal red would look lovely on your tree.

So – here’s how to make the new 4-hr Bluebirds: » Read more: Bluebird Ornaments – 7-hr Bluebirds Revisited

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Posted in Cheap Art

Tags: bluebird ornaments christmas ornaments paper mache clay tree

My New Makeshift Photo Studio

November 24th, 2009

This post shows the new tabletop photo studio I set up for taking pictures of my paper mache animal sculptures. The total cost includes a new Fujifilm FinePix S1500 camera, new daylight florescent bulbs and colored fabrics to be used as “seamless” backdrops.

My little makeshift photo studio seems to work quite well for close-up photos of my sculptures. Since I spent the smallest amount of money I possibly could and still ended up with a very workable setup, I thought you, as a fellow artist, might be interested.

The total cost of my new “studio” was $247.55. Some of the parts were rummaged from my garage, so the costs of those items are not included in that total.

New Tabletop Studio for Photos of My Animal Sculptures

Camera:

Before I could even begin setting up my little table-top studio I needed to buy a new camera. My old one couldn’t take photos at a high enough resolution for large prints, which are needed when taking photos that will be printed in a book. My 4 megapixel Canon Powershot A520 simply wasn’t up to the job, and its limitations were slowing down the creation of my new how-to book about using paper mache clay to create animal sculptures. (13 completely new projects planned – stay tuned…)

According to Steve Meltzer’s book Photographing Arts, Crafts & Collectibles, (a great book – highly recommended), I needed a camera with at least 8 megapixels, but my Canon has only 4. Some online research pointed me to the Fujifilm FinePix S1500, a 10 megapixel camera that has some of the automatic features that I really need. » Read more: My New Makeshift Photo Studio

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Posted in Cheap Art

Tags: Canon PowerShot Fujifilm FinePix S1500 home tabletop photo studio photographing sculptures seamless backdrop studio lights

Two New Lion Cubs

November 4th, 2009

Lion Cub, Sleeping

My last two life-sized lion cubs are finished. This one is sleeping with her head on one paw. Her brother, below, is stalking one of the other lion cubs from the same litter, which I showed you on a previous post.

Lion Cub, Stalking

This is the last of the big cats, at least for a while. They were supposed to be shown in a pop-up gallery in Bellingham this month, but the show has been postponed until spring. That will allow me to drive the big cats and anything I come up with between now and then to Washington, saving me a ton of shipping charges. (I have a weird phobia about driving across two mountain passes in the snow). And Xan will have a bit more time to prepare an outstanding show. » Read more: Two New Lion Cubs

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Posted in Cheap Art

Tags: animal sculptures lion cub sculptures papier mache

Halloween Skeleton – in Progress

October 20th, 2009

A few weeks ago a reader named Addie sent me an email describing her latest project – a full-sized skeleton made from PVC pipe and paper mache. Just thinking about all the challenges in a project like that makes my brain hurt, so I had great respect for Addie, even before she sent photos of her pile of bones.

Yesterday she sent some photos of the skeleton, and she’s made great progress. I’m happy that she gave me permission to let you all see what she’s done so far. She said she would appreciate any tips, but the bones look great to me. I can’t wait to see the skull.

The only suggestion I made was to try the new paper clay recipe with the aluminum screen mentioned in the video for the ribs, just because it might be easier than getting the Claycrete to stick to her wire form. Photos (and a slightly edited version of her two recent emails) below.

Leg Bones and Arm Bones

Rib Bones and Backbone

I just wanted to show you some progress. It has become quite the multi-media mache. I wanted to try some of that Claycrete for some detail and around that rib cage. The other picture is a pile of arms and legs. …

… I fitted each joint (elbow, knees, hips, etc.) with elbows for the cpvc. The arms have a 45° angle and the legs or knees and such have a 90°. Then when I am completely done I can just pop them back on the “joints”. (I have left room and tested that part as well).

Thanks for the heads up about the screen. I have been wondering what to put around the rib cage. when the Claycrete gets heavy the lead wire doesn’t seem to want to hold up so well. but, live and learn.

I would love to get some feed-back from others so feel free to put it up on your site, and once again thank you so much. Addie

Great job, Addie. I can’t wait to see the finished skeleton. I hope it’s done in time for Halloween.

18 comments »

Posted in Cheap Art

Tags: paper mache skeleton

Easy Paper Mache Clay Recipe

October 14th, 2009

12/10/09 – I’m editing this post and putting up a new video, because I’ve now had a few months to play with my paper mache clay recipe. The new video will give you instructions that you’ll need to make sure your toilet paper rolls contain the same amount of paper as mine. The new mixing instructions are also easier to use.

This recipe was inspired by Ronnie Burkett’s Papier Mache Rediscovered (recipe #2) and some comments by readers, especially Bob’s comments on the paper mache pumkin post. Thanks, everyone.

Note: This material does use items from the hardware store that are not rated for use by children, and the resulting clay is not edible. Small children should not use this clay.

I used this clay to make all the big cats you can see on my gallery page.

If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think.

Edit – 11/3/09. While you can speed up drying by putting your sculpture in a warm oven, I don’t recommend using a temperature higher than 150. The heating clay puts out some fumes if you go higher than that. I’m not a chemist or a doctor, but it doesn’t seem like something you’d want to breath for very long. Also, any masking tape that is still exposed will unstick itself in the oven, even at a low temperature. I recommend that you be patient and allow your clay to air-dry naturally.

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Posted in Cheap Art

Tags: paper mache recipe paper mache clay

Paper Mache Halloween Pumpkins and a Centaur –

October 10th, 2009

Yesterday I received an email from a reader that I just had to share with you. When you see the photos of Laurie Baker’s incredible paper mache centaur and Halloween pumpkins below, you’ll know why. I’m very happy that Lauri gave me permission to share her email with you. She has some tips for you, in addition to her photos of recent projects.

Something that amazes me is that she started sculpting with paper mache as a way to help her stop smoking – and it worked!

And now, here’s Laurie’s email:

Hi there, gosh, I just saw the YouTube video of the paper mache elephant, that was spectacular!!!! I love how you made the pre-paper pattern!!

I subscribed to your website here, I just started doing paper mache a few months ago when I wanted to quit smoking after 33yrs, so far I’ve been a paper maching fool lol!!!

Saw some ideas about shop paper towels and thought I’d share my idea of baby wipes. I buy generic, they’re like 2.00 for 88 or so, you can use them wet if you don’t want to tear them or pull them out of the container, let air dry then they tear to have smaller pieces. These are fantastic in my opinion, they dry fast and hard and you don’t need as many layers of paper then. Sometimes I use a layer of brown grocery bags either before or on top of the baby wipes, they cover little tiny edges that are sticking up sometimes when the paper dries. Well just an idea I wanted to share with you….

Here’s a few pics…a life size centaur that I painted with stone like spray paint so it looks just like a stone statue and pumpkins that we put lights in. The baby wipes are GREAT for hair, beards, tails, and also for the gnarly wood-looking pumpkin stems. I do use glue in my flour water mixture tho….not sure if it would work the same for just flour and water.

Laurie's Life-Sized Paper Mache Centaur

I have 9 pumpkins now ( the biggest is aprox 30″ not including the stem ) 4 zombies, a giant frog, a gnome, life size werewolf/man, creepy huge arms with scary hands, and a life sized man I haven’t decided what to do with him yet.

Laurie's Paper Mache Pumpkins

Trying the lights in the pumpkins now using twinkle Christmas lights makes them appear to be flickering candle..here’s 4 lit:

Lighted Paper Mache Pumpkins

And yes I haven’t smoked at all for 5 almost 6 months wahoooo Laurie Baker

Of course, I have no idea how Laurie made the centaur or the pumpkins, but I hope she’ll check in once in a while so she can answer your questions. And thanks, Laurie – I’m so glad you shared your work with us!

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Posted in Cheap Art, Papier Mache Art

Tags: paper mache centaur paper mache pumpkins

Blue Paper Towels for Paper Mache

September 26th, 2009

Yesterday we received a comment on the paper mache halloween mask page that I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss. Diane sez:

An artist friend of mine introduced me to using blue “shop towels” on a roll for papier mache.
They’re great because they’re thick (so the work goes quicker and is stronger) and also because they’re quite supple and drapable while wet. The towels have usually been found in automotive depts and stores, but saw them the other day at my local Safeway right next to the regular paper towels. Might be fun to play around with anyway.

So naturally I had to run right to the hardware store and buy a roll. They’re a little more expensive than the cheap one-ply paper towels I’ve been using lately. However, they really are thicker, they soak up the paste in a very satisfying way, and they have no bumps like the paper towels used to sop up messes in the kitchen.

But that’s not what got me excited. The great thing (OK, two things) are that:

The edges blend in very well as long as you’re careful to not let the torn edges roll up, and
They stretch. Stretching is good because you can get them to mold around elbows and armpits, like in the photo below, without getting a lot of wrinkles. And that means you can use much bigger pieces of torn paper so your project goes faster.

I’m hooked.

Blue Paper Towels on Cat

This cat is still in progress, obviously. No face yet. The blue will need to be covered with gesso before the cat can get his spots or stripes (still haven’t decided) but I don’t think it will be an issue.

It was hard to find my camera to take this photo because I’ve been following my own cats around the house in the last two days, trying to convince them to do something cute so I could take their picture. And of course I set my camera down without thinking. I think I spend half my life looking for things I used just a few moments earlier and then left in some totally unreasonable spot.

All the cat photos are to help me get into the mood to create works for an art show that’s scheduled for the last week of November in Bellingham, WA. I’ll let you know more when things get finalized. If you live near B’ham I hope you can make it.