Random Thoughts

How to Protect Your Hands While Working with Paper Mache?

ShareThis morning Liz left a question on a previous post, and it’s one of those questions that you may be better at answering than I am. I’m sure she isn’t the only one who has hands that get dry when working with paper mache. Here’s her question: I have a very practical and basic papier [...]

12 comments Read the full article →

Fear of Drawing? Sculpture Anxiety? Creative Block?

ShareDo you have potential paintings or sculptures in your  mind that are so real you can close your eyes and touch the surface of the canvas, or walk entirely around the piece, exploring it’s every detail? Do you have a short story or a novel in your mind that’s so real you can see yourself [...]

31 comments Read the full article →

Storing Paper Mache in Hot, Humid Climate???

ShareHow can you store paper mache Christmas ornaments so they’ll still be beautiful next year? Your suggestions are welcome. Hi Everyone. A reader sent me a question I can’t answer, and I’m hoping you can help her out. She lives in Texas, and she wants to know the best way to protect a pair of [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

My New Makeshift Photo Studio

ShareThis 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 [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

New Paper Mache Forum — Died…

ShareSorry — the Paper Mache Forum died. It became a target for spammers, and I don’t have the time or technical expertise to keep the bad guys out. I want to thank everyone who contributed their thoughts and projects to the forum in the brief time it was online. If you have questions about paper [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

New Gallery Page, Plus Rant About 18-hr Bus Ride

ShareI’m back from my short vacation, and this morning I took all new photos of my recent work so I could create a new online sculpture gallery. Please check it out and tell me what you think – all comments, as usual, are welcome. Now that my visiting is done and the long-awaited gallery page [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Call for Artists

ShareXan Blackburn, an artist that I “met” on this site, is organizing an after-Thanksgiving art show in Bellingham, WA. You may remember Xan’s paper mache dog portrait that was featured on this site in August. Xan is charging a very low commission to artists who participate, and she’s donating all of the commission she receives [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

Where Papier Mache Sculptors are Important

ShareThis post is a compilation of news and interesting papier mache artwork that I found while surfing this morning. My online journey began wit this  news item: Malta is celebrating Carlo Darmanin, Malta’s most important papier-mache statue maker, with an exhibition of his work. Naturally, my reaction to this news was “What? Papier mache sculptors [...]

12 comments Read the full article →

My New Garden Bench

ShareLast weekend my dad, Pete Havekost, and by brother Ken brought me a wonderful present – one of my father’s custom-made concrete benches. They traveled all the way from Bellingham, WA to bring me my bench, which is made in three pieces. Then they put the bench together with bolts and put into place. I [...]

9 comments Read the full article →

Seattle’s Mystery Sculptor

A mysterious artist left a rather elaborate multi-piece paper mache sculpture at Gas Works Park in Seattle last night. The newspaper sent me an email just a few minutes ago to see if I knew who the artist was – which I think is rather flattering. Unfortunately, I don’t know who created this piece, which:

…consists of several pieces: a full-size gold-plated man standing on the waterfront surrounded by what appear to be shells, some with the heads of people emerging from them…

4 comments Read the full article →

An Artist’s View of the Health Insurance Debate

ShareUpdate, 9/27/09: If you support real health care reform, as I do, please take time to sign this petition and ask that the Senate pass the bill that passed Ted Kennedy’s senate committee. I know this is supposed to be a blog about paper mache – but paper mache has been used traditionally to make [...]

32 comments Read the full article →

My Next Paper Mache Project – What Should It Be?

ShareI’m waiting for the second-to-last layer of paper mache to dry on my big baby elephant so I can attach the ears and add the final “skin” of paper towels. (Paper towels looked very skin-like on my other hairless animal, the flying pig.) While I wait I’m trying to decide what I should work on [...]

16 comments Read the full article →

Ideas for a Cheap and Affordable Artists’ Community

ShareUpdate – 9/22/2011: This is a rather old post, but if you’re interested in intentional communities, you can find the latest discussion about this subject at The Querencia Project. (It gives us more room for ideas and discussion). We hope to see you there. Original Post: I thought it would be fun to digress a [...]

35 comments Read the full article →

Artists: Improve Your Website Traffic

ShareUpdate, 1/5/2010: I just now replaced the old image of my yearly stats. As you’ll see from the rest of this post, it was written many months ago. I updated the image so you won’t think my previous visitor record was a flash in the pan. Paper mache searches (and my visitor numbers) peak in [...]

76 comments Read the full article →

DIY Instant Paper Mache

ShareEdit, 10/25/09. When I first tried this recipe for DIY instant paper mache it worked well. Since then, whenever I combine all three ingredients the goop instantly turns into something resembling rubber, and it can’t be used. I think this may have worked the first time because a chemical used in the cellulose insulation may [...]

17 comments Read the full article →

Next Entries →