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.
- My favorite online bookstore.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Constantly looking misplaced things… I can relate!
The kitty is looking good. I never knew about these paper towels and will check them out. Even though they are good for your work, I am thinking they might be good for cleaning up after art projects as well.
Ooo! I want some! I’ll have to check this out. I, too, have been following my cats around with the camera. I’ve got quite a collection of fuzzy pictures of confused cats coming at me in a blur. Hm.
My cats seem to have little patience with weird human activities. Lots of irritated looks in my photos.
One issue I’ve discovered with the blue paper towels – the thickness of them can cause lumpiness if you don’t carefully position them. But the good seems to outweigh the difficulties.