I receive a lot of emails by folks who would like to put their paper mache sculptures outside. Can paper mache be waterproofed?
I’ve always said “no,” but I never actually tried it myself. Therefore, I decided that I needed to do some experiments to see if there really is a way to weatherproof paper.
I was delighted when I discovered that Jackie Hall, writing for the Papier Mache Resource website, beat me to it. Jackie tried just about every finishing material that she could think of, and carefully documented her results.
In the end, she discovered that you really can waterproof paper mache sculptures, using yacht varnish. This product may be sold as marine varnish at your local paint store.
Now that I know you really can keep the weather from ruining a paper mache sculpture, I’ve got to try it mysel. When I do make an outside sculpture, I’ll do a few things differently during the building process. These things may not be necessary, but they do seem reasonable:
- I would use a high-quality carpenter’s glue to stick the paper onto the sculpture, instead of using the usual flour-and-water paste. I would do this because flour is one of the favorite foods of fungi (yeast is a fungus, and you know what happens when you add yeast to bread dough). Flour is also a favorite food for animals, like mice, raccoons, and golden retrievers. The varnish might mask the odor of the flour, but I would play it safe and use the glue instead.
- I would keep the bottom of the sculpture far enough above the ground to prevent splashback from rain or sprinklers from covering the sculpture with a thin film of mud. Soil microbes, especially fungi, are incredibly strong, and could eat their way into the sculpture and cause it to rot. Some fungi is strong enough to work it’s way into concrete and even rocks, so a paper mache sculpture would be a piece of cake for them. To prevent the bottom from getting wet, the sculpture could be placed on top of a rounded rock that allows water to drain away. I don’t know exactly how a larger sculpture (a hippo, for instance) would be protected, but there must be a way to do it.
- As Jackie suggested, I would re-apply the marine varnish at least once a year.
- I would make sure the sculpture is heavy enough to keep the wind from blowing it away.
If you have ever made a papier mache garden sculpture, please let us know what happened to it. Did it survive out in the weather? Did the paint colors fade in the sun? I would really like to know, because I’m running out of room in my house for all the critters I’ve been building, and I’d love to fill my garden with some weird and wonderful animal sculptures.
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So can I use plain carpenter’s glue to paper mâché, or do I have to mix it with something else? I have a big sculpture that I need to paper mâché, and I have never used paper mâché before.
No, you can use a paste made from flour and water. I mentioned the carpenter’s glue because it won’t attract mold, but it would probably not help waterproof a sculpture. The final finish would have to do that. I have never been brave enough to put paper mache outdoors, so if that’s what you intend to do, you should follow the link to the original experiments that are mentioned in this post. The lady who did the experiments should be able to answer questions about waterproofing paper mache much better than I can. Good luck.
Do you think that you might be able to make boats out of paper mache, using the yacht varnish? It would be really cool if you had a paper mache boat that actually worked (I’m talking mostly about toy boats, but maybe someday there could be a lifesized paper mache boat ^-^)
Actually, real boats used to be made with paper. A company built world-class racing shells with paper between 1861 and 1901. I don’t have all the links now but I did some online research a few months back and it looks like they used some kind of copper solution forced into the paper to waterproof it. It didn’t look like something a real person would want to do in their back yard. If you try to make a boat and waterproof it with marine varnish, let us know how it turns out! But try it out on shallow water, please.
Hey Jonni,
I’ve been away awhile, but am glad to see you are trying the waterproofing so your sculptures can be put outside. I was one who asked.
I’m working on my first paper mache sculpture of a sandhill crane. I took quite a few pictures and came up with a pose I liked. I’ve been following your instructions but am having trouble coming up with base material to use for the legs. As you know cranes have thin legs but bulbous joints. The material has to be strong enough to hold up the body, but not too thin that I can’t apply the newspaper.
I’ve wondered about wood dowels.
Dowels would work. I once made a 24″ high paper mache wattled crane using thin tree branches for the legs. I made sure the knots ended up in the knee area. I didn’t cover the branches, but left them natural, which I liked a lot, but a lot of people told me it was too weird.
Another option, which would be easy to wrap paper mache around, is rebar, which you can get at your local lumber yard. You can bend it but it’s very strong, and the ridges on the bars would make it easy to add paper mache. However, I have been told that the rust from the rebar can move to the outside of a paper mache sculpture, although I’m not sure how this would happen if the material was completely dry.
Good luck with your sculpture. We’d love to see it when it’s done.
Try Bamboo.
Painting the rebar first with a rustoleum type paint would also keep that from happening.
The elephant fountain at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans is largely made up of paper mache structures. I believe they were then fiberglassed.
Here is a pic:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25010622
What about making your paste up using plastic resin glue powder ala this web site… http://familycrafts.about.com/od/papermache/a/resinpmpaste.htm. I am on the verge of experimenting with it having just purchased some. You could use the paste in the pulp mixture.
That’s an interesting idea. They don’t say it will make the paper mache waterproof, but it sounds like a good thing to try. They also sell, at the hardware store, premium carpenter’s glue that is supposed to be waterproof. One could use it for a paper mache project, but you’d have to leave out the flour. It would probably work to just dilute the glue with water and dip in your paper strips. The carpenter’s glue costs almost $30 a gallon – I wonder how much the plastic resin glue powder costs?
Thanks!! I am doing Halloween decorations and I wanted to put a bunch of fake pumpkins outside but they are so expensive!! I figured I could make paper mache ones but we live in Florida and it is humid and rains nearly everyday. They only need to last once season but I’m excited to try it out.
Hi,
I stumbled upon this site accidently and cannot believe my luck. THANK-YOU for being out there and for publishing your hard won advancements on the web. I am crazy about paper. I think it has great potential to change the way we consumme and live. I have been thinking for a long time about being able to make water proof structure for outside. There is a commercial product called “Paverpol” that doesn’t need to be recoated every year. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to experiment with it as yet. But when I do will let you. Especially about longevity.
I looked up Paverpol on the Internet. It looks intriguing. They call it a fabric stiffener, and they’re using it to make some very interesting sculptures.
I’m going to try using waterproof carpenters glue in place of the Elmers in my paper mache clay recipe for outside sculptures. The tinfoil they use on the Paverpol site is a good idea for the inside form – I was worried about water getting inside and causing a sculpture to rot from the inside out. This weekend my father showed me how he connects rebar with little wires and a special tool, and showed me which inexpensive propane torch I can use to bend it easily. He uses this equipment for his concrete benches. With a rebar skeleton covered in crinkled tin foil and then waterproof paper mache clay – and then coated with marine varnish when it’s all done – I think it would create something that would be safe out in the weather. Thanks for mentioning that product – and do tell us how your experiments come out.
I made a papier mache Easter Island statue/letterbox, which we call Man Friday. After I finished the papier mache statue, I fibreglassed it and painted it, with sand in the paint, so it looks like a stone statue. I put a length of pvc pipe out the bottom, which is cemented into the ground. I also put some ballast foam inside it to give it weight against the wind. So far it’s been out in the weather for two years and isn’t showing any signs of wear. We love our letterbox!
Very nice!
I’ve been using slightly diluted white glue for my paper mache projects, never thought about looking for a waterproof wood glue for outside ones. Will definitely try it out!
Thanks for your post, Jonni, and for all the helpful comments!
HELLO AM SURPRISED NO ONE HAS USED MOD PODGE TO WATER PROOF I MADE A FOUR FOOT GERMAN SHEPHERD I PUT MOD PODGE IN MY FLOUR AND WATER WITH CARPENTER GLUE ALSO PUT MOD PODGE IN MY PAINT THEN MOD PODGE THE WHOLE DOG THREE TIMES I HAVE FOUR WIZARD OF OZ LIFE SIZE THAT HAVE BEEN IN FAIRS BUT MY DOG NEVER DID DRY AND DID NOT MILDEW AND HELD UP SIX YEARS SO FAR AND IS HARD AS A ROCK ALSO I BUY LARGE A GALLON OF CARPENTER GLUE ONE PART GLUE TWO PART WATER MUCH BETTER THEN FLOUR GOOD LUCK LORRAINE