This will be a quick post this morning. First, I received a question from a reader that I can’t answer, but if someone else out there has some experience and can shed some light on this issue, I would like to know, too. Here’s the email:

Hello from Cape Town, South Africa Jonni!

I just wanted to thank you for a fantastic website.  Yours is by far the nicest papier mache sites I’ve found to date and I’m very excited about trying out your paper clay recipe.  I was hoping you might have some tips for me on getting papier mache to adhere to polystyrene/styrofoam.  I’ve found it to be a great material to shape for a base structure, but my paper always wants to peel away from it.  I use a standard wallpaper glue, though I mix it to a slightly stronger concentrate.  Any advice will be most appreciated J

Kind regards,

Mieke

Suggestions, anyone?

Next, it’s time to show you the working draft of my new mask book’s cover. I don’t believe anyone voted for the duck, but he does add some nice color. The other masks were high on the list of responses I received on previous posts – I want to thank everyone who offered their ideas and input. And now, what do you think about the cover? (I made the image small because that’s the size it will be seen in Amazon.com’s search results).

And finally, I wanted to share my very first “review.” I sent the first few chapters out to a few friends, and Sharon Moreno sent back the following comment. I got such a kick out of it, I just had to share it with you. (I love it when people get my jokes!)

Page 12 from How to Make Masks

Hi Jonni,
Your book is GREAT. I must tell you my favorite images are on page 12. When I came to the picture of your face covered in foil…I started chuckling. When I got to the picture of you taking the mask off that was stuck to your hair…I was roaring with laughter. Had to step away from the computer a bit to get myself under control. That was awhile ago and writing this brings it all back and I can’t stop laughing. I want you to know I love having fun with our artistic endeavors. Thank you….for the fun and the honor of your trust in forwarding on to me these portions of your up-coming, sure to be best seller, paper mache book.

The page Sharon referred to is this one, where I show how to make a simple mask form using aluminum foil and duct tape. That was a fun page to write, but, for obvious reasons, I felt a bit weird doing it in my living room in front of my picture window (the best light in the house for pictures). Some of my neighbors probably think I’m getting a bit old for such foolishness…

That’s all for today. Anyone have an answer for Mieke?

We have a wonderful guest post today, by Ann Halim. I’ll let her take it from here (be sure to see the gallery of photos at the end – click to enlarge):

Christmas 2011 Nativity Project

By Ann Halim

I had the idea to do a life-size interactive Nativity late in 2009, though it seemed an overwhelming job at the time. I’m not a trained artist (though definitely an artist at heart!) and really had no idea how to even start.  In early spring, 2011, I felt God nudging me again and I began to think about how such a project could be done. I decided that paper mache would be the way to go, since it is easily manipulated and inexpensive – always a consideration when you’re working on a non-funded project!

I found this website as I was researching ideas online and came across the guest blog about making a life-size person with chicken wire forms filled with plaster of paris. Then I was REALLY overwhelmed! Thinking of making several people starting from scratch…oh dear! But the tutorial about the baby elephant intrigued me and so began the process that ended with a full-size Nativity complete with a life-size camel (Sa’naam – which means ‘hump’ in Arabic), two sheep, two doves, a donkey and a water pot, all made from paper mache. The Lord graciously helped me find 2 mannequins, which we transformed into Mary and Joseph. Since both were female mannequins, it was an interesting transformation to use Jonni’s mache-clay to widen ‘Josephina’s’ face with a manly square jaw, larger nose and thicker neck.

Enlisting the help of a good friend (who IS a trained artist), we embarked on the camel-making adventure. My friend made a pattern by projecting a camel picture onto the wall and tracing it off. Her husband cut it out, reinforced the seam (since she was longer than a piece of plywood), and fashioned her kneeling legs at the correct angles. Originally I’d wanted a standing camel, but was talked out of it for fear of safety issues with the potential of it falling over on small (or large) children. We tried very hard to make everything as sturdy as possible since I knew that inviting people to walk around and touch the sculptures would lead to some climbing on them (thought we expressly asked them not to do that!). Except for a few scratches and cracks, the entire scene fared quite well during the 6 weeks it was on display.

All the animals (except the doves) started out with a wooden armature as Jonni did with her elephant. We then used wads of newspaper and masking tape to form the legs, body and head with appropriate muscles and facial details. On the donkey and camel we used chicken wire around their midsections to hold the paper wads. We also stuffed plastic bags with paper wads and stapled them onto the legs and neck since that surface area was so great and taping the large areas was impractical. Once the shapes were defined, however, we did mostly cover them with masking tape to provide the water barrier needed to begin mache-ing.

We the used paper strips dipped in flour/water mixture to cover the masked sculptures, allowing it dry between layers. Because I was concerned about making them sturdy, I decided to add a layer or two of mache-clay over the strips. I lost track of how much clay I made and used, but it was several gallons. It provided a very nice outer surface on which to paint.

The camel’s eyes are a bouncy ball cut in half, which was painted and glazed. People were so intrigued with the eyes that they poked at them to see what they were made of and the paint cracked! I re-painted once, but it kept happening, so we just left it cracked. I think we would have used something else if we’d known… Her eyelashes came from the back of Joseph’s wig, cut and meticulously arranged in small bunches and glued on, then dry brushed with light paint to match her head hair. Her forelock hair is twine or small rope, unraveled and glued in small bunches on the top of her head. Both camel and donkey tails were made from unraveled pieces of rope.

Originally I had wanted the sheep to be soft so the children would enjoy touching them, but soon realized they were going to look like stuffed animals if we used fabric or faux fur to cover them. We tried several different techniques before deciding on paper towels dipped in the flour/water mixture then scrunched onto the sheep bodies to make their wool. I added blobs of clay here and there so their wool coat didn’t look like flower rosettes. The surface was not touch-friendly (read: prickly!), but in the end, that may have saved them from being damaged.

The water pot was two baskets glued and taped together, then covered with paper wads and tape. I wasn’t happy with the shape after the first phase, so added the two extra bumps on the upper and lower edges before covering it with mache-clay, then paint.

The doves started as wads of paper with cardboard beaks, tails and wings. I formed the feet out of floral wire then taped and mache-ed them. My friend patiently cut chicken feathers apart and applied them one at a time. I, on the other hand, was making the flying dove and wasn’t quite so meticulous. My dove ended up looking like a startled chicken! With a little help from my artist friend, it was tamed down, given bead eyes instead of painted ones and looked more like a dove than a chicken (though if I were to do it over, I would try to find dove feathers instead of using chicken ones).

A week and a half before installation, I decided we just HAD to have a donkey so he was made rather quickly (the camel took about 5 weeks start to finish). In my haste I painted him a lovely gray, but failed to notice it was semi-gloss paint! He looked like a carousel horse. New paint in a matte finish rescued him from the carnival…J His mane consists of bristles from 3 inexpensive brooms. The color matched perfectly, a blessing considering it was nearly time to do the installation.

From the first sheep to installation day it took about 5 months and the help of over 30 people to finish. It was a very fun and labor-intensive project.

A big thanks to Jonni for her wonderful elephant tutorial which was just what I needed to kick-start this project.

Wow – folks, are you as impressed as I am? (I love the way one of the sheep is looking out, as though he hears the people who came to see the display.)

Well, this is it – the last two projects I planned for the book are finished. I think I’ve run out of pages, so one or more of the masks I’ve shown you might not be included – I’ll have to make some tough decisions in the next few days. In fact, in the last post I said only one mask was left to finish, because I didn’t think I’d be able to fit the outlaw into the book – now I’ve decided I like him so much, I’ll fit him in even if I have to leave something else out.

The Texas Outlaw was the first mask I made using the new methods, and it’s the last one I finished. I have a phobia when it comes to painting people, so I kept putting it off. I’m glad he’s finally finished, though – it makes me happy to think of a tough guy with a bright red mustache trying to disguise himself by covering up his eyes. I think this hombre spends a lot of time in the hoosegow. (By the way, why can’t Lois Lane recognize the man she loves whenever he changes his shirt and puts on a pair of glasses?)  I made the outlaw a Texas-sized ten-gallon hat, but the hat probably won’t make it into the book.

The Celtic helmet isn’t a mask, of course, but I thought it would be fun to see if it’s possible to make paper mache look like rusty iron. (I think it looks pretty authentic, don’t you?) And I did want to create something for the role-playing and military history buffs.

I thought I’d need to use more than the usual two layers of paper mache around the rim to get the edge to look thick enough to be believable, but the original photo from a museum collection does show a thin edge on the real helmet, too, so I left it as-is. I bought the Instant Iron and Instant Rust online, so I didn’t read the warning labels until it arrived – not family-friendly stuff. It was fun to use, though. Because of the toxic product, and the non-mask-ness of the helmet, it might be the project that gets bumped from the book.

If you haven’t yet “voted” on which mask you think should be on the cover of the new “how to make a mask” book, you can find the other masks here and here. I always value your input.

On a completely different note, one of our regular readers and a previous guest poster, Jim Kransberger, is a featured artist in the upcoming book Humor in Craft. Jim’s a busy guy – his work will also be shown, starting tonight, at the Blue Spiral gallery, in Asheville, NC. Congratulations, Jim!

And now, back to work!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope life is treating you well so far.

My paper mache mask book project is winding down – just one more mask to finish, and one more chapter to write. I ordered some Instant Iron and Instant Rust so my ancient iron Celtic helmet should look very realistic. The hard part is waiting for it to get here. OK – the hard part really is going through all the words in the book and finding the zillions of typos that hide so well. But I won’t start that project until the helmet is done.

The three I finished since the last post are shown below. I want to thank everyone who took the time to “vote” for the one you think should go on the cover.  In the next week I’ll be going through the list of suggestions you gave me. The Kudu below isn’t an option for the cover (for search engine optimization reasons – TMI…) but if you still want to vote you can add the butterfly and owl to your list of candidates. I love hearing your suggestions. I don’t even mind if you vote twice!

By the way, I couldn’t stop myself from snapping that picture at the top of this post. That cat looks so sweet, doesn’t she? A few seconds after I took the picture she jumped onto my work table in the middle of my paint (I managed to move all the important stuff in time) and then insisted that it was time for her cuddles. When she insists, all work stops. I guess that’s what cats are for, right?

Several months ago I had this crazy idea that I could finish my paper mache mask book by the first of December. Ha! I’m still not even close, and here it is almost Christmas already.

Well, I may not be very fast, but I’m having a great time with these projects. I’m using positive molds made with modeling clay — no more of the expensive silicone or urethane rubber molds that I tried before. And the paper mache is made with just two layers of Scott Shop Towels®, pasted together with a plaster and glue mixture that was inspired by Mark Morse, who mentioned the plaster-based gesso he uses. The result is a strong mas that is incredibly light because there’s no armature left inside.

And, believe it or not, they’re actually easier to make than masks made with paper mache clay – I found that rather surprising, since the clay makes other sculptures so much easier.

I still have at least four more masks to finish. I wanted to include a Celtic helmet, since the unicorn is wearing a silver ornament hanging from his horn that was given to him by Boudicca, the last queen of the Celts. Unfortunately, I may be running out of space. Printers charge by the page, dang it, so I have to prioritize. Maybe I can still fit it in, though — I should know by next week. And the book itself should be finished by the first of February, so readers will have plenty of time to make their favorite mask for Mardi Gras. (At least I hope I can get it done by then. Wish me luck.)

Here’s what I have finished so far (I still haven’t decided which one should go on the cover. Any suggestions?):

Paper Mache Clay Masks for Theater Production

Today’s guest post is by Richard Curtis, who sent in some fabulous photos of masks and props he made for a recent theater production.

I’ll let Richard take it from here:

I have enclosed a few of the shots from our production of Oedipus Rex. All the masks and props were created using the paper mache clay recipe.  Thank you.

I designed and created the masks, along with being the set designer and scenic artist. The play was Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, after years of the community college being ridiculed for it’s performances and lack of tech, we took it to a whole new level with this show. The masks alone set NESCC on a whole new level in this area and make people take notice, they even put NESCC into the Kennedy Center Festival for the 1st time.

We decided to show the world that Greek theatre can be cool and fun; steering away from the mundayne traditional style and immersing the audience into the horrid world of the play itself. Without your recipe, I never would have been able to accomplish this and I thank you immensely. You have my full permission to use the photos in any way you see fit. Once again, Thank You!

All I can say is Wow! Thanks, Richard, for sharing these with us. Be sure to click on these smaller images to see the full-sized photos (This is the first time I’ve tried to make a gallery for photos – please let me know if it doesn’t work):

Yes, it’s paper mache. Wow. The work is by artist Hazel Bryce, who lives in Reading, UK.

Paper Mache Seahorse by Hazel Bryce

Hazel recently completed a new video showing her paper mache seahorse, which you can see below. She also has a number of close-up photos on her website, and photos of her other work. According to Hazel, the seahorse has been shown at the Royal Academy of Arts London and is currently on exhibition at a Paper museum in the Czech Republic. However, this beautiful piece needs a new home by May 2012. If you have any ideas about where the piece should be exhibited next, Hazel would love to hear from you.

And now, to the video:

Paper Mache Masks by Mark Morse

These masks were made with paper mache clay by Mark Morse. The masks looked like this before finishing:

Paper Mache Mask Before Finishing

From Mark:

I have also included some others. I was especially fond of the little monk as I used the the card board toilet paper tube as its frame. So its really one complete roll of toilet paper. Also some attempts to make my own Japanese Daruma dolls.

My own recent paper mache attempts have revolved around a traditional Japanese doll, called a Daruma. He is based on a historical figure who was a stoic Buddhist mediator, who’s face all ways shows his determination. And he is depicted in the dolls in an egg like shape because his determination was so great that if you were to push him over he would just roll back up. I attached a couple pictures of how my progress has gone.

I have built the figures around a clay form then cut the paper mache away. Then taped them back together, and adding several more layers of paper mache. With a desire to try and create a really smooth finish, I have been experimenting with Plaster of Paris, mixed with mostly wood glue, and a bit of water. The mixture seems to extremely resilient. Allowing me to sand pretty aggressively with my electric palm sander. Creating a very wonderful smooth surface. from your web site I also then apply a couple layers of wood glue, then begin to paint. From what I have seen over the last six months the Plaster of Paris seems to be really strong, with no brittleness, or qualities of Plaster of Paris you might expect when its only mixed with water. I have also seen one of my figures fall a couple feet with no sign of damage.

I think it worked very well. The only down side I can think of is that with the plaster of paris, it dries very quickly. 30 minutes and you can’t play with it much further. I found I had to watch it, using a wet hand or wet plastic to
smooth it out. So far all my projects with it have held up great. Although I might start to do without it, in trade of the paper clay as my ultimate desire for the recipe was for a smooth finish, which I have found achievable with the paper clay. One benefit of my recipe is that you can create a thin layer that holds up to sanding really well.

I did not use that recipe on the mask’s. But did use it on the projects you see in the attached pictures.
Thanks
Mark

See Mark’s Daruma dolls and other creations below:

Thanks, Mark, for sharing your wonderful creations. The expressions on all the faces are wonderfu.

Thanks also for sharing your experience with your Plaster of Paris Gesso. As I mentioned to Mark, the first time I read about this mixture was in James Cochrane’s book Paper Sculpture: Over 25 Cute and Quirky Paper Mache Projects. When I read that book I worried that the mixture might be too brittle, or that it would harden too quickly. Now that Mark has been using the gesso for over a year with good results, I’ll definitely try it.

Paper Mache Mask

You will all remember Cory and his students from his previous guest posts, so no introduction is needed. Fabulous masks – what a great art class!

Here’s the email Cory sent in with the photos:

Jonni,

It’s Cory from Royal Valley Middle School again (we made the panther and the the Sarcophagus). I thought that a few of my students and I would enter your Halloween Mask Party. Here are our pictures.

Each year my students make paper mache monsters and masks to celebrate Halloween. Here are 7 of the finished 8^th grade masks. All of the following masks were made from balloons and paper mache except for the gas mask which was made from a foam-core structure and then covered in paper mache. The last three images are the ones that I have created for examples. I used plaster gauze to make my masks more sturdy. The last image is made from a cardboard oatmeal tube and I will send a picture when it is completed.

Thanks for letting us share our work.

Cory and the 8^th grade class.

Thanks, Cory! Your students must be very proud of their work.

"Demonic Wraith" - Paper Mache Mask

Genivieve submitted her mask, titled “Demonic Wraith,” to our online Halloween Mask Party. I love the subtle way the wraith’s skull is painted. (That reflection through the eye socket – it looks almost alive, doesn’t it?)

Here’s a photo of the mask before painting:

Wraith's Scull Before Painting

Thanks, Genivieve, for sharing this wonderful mask.