This is great – Nikki made us a video to show how she builds hollow armatures for her cement sculptures. As she says in the video, these techniques will work just as well for traditional paper mache strips and paste, and, even better, the paper mache clay. Thank you, Nikki!

Joker Mask, Paper Mache Clay

I confess. I haven’t seen the movie. I specifically chose not to see it because of all the photos of Heath in his Joker makeup, and it just looked too creepy. I don’t watch creepy movies.

But this morning I saw an ad for a Joker mask, and something just came over me – I had to make one myself. I don’t understand myself sometimes…

• But before we get to the step-by-step photos, I wanted to mention a very interesting conversation that’s been going on over at a Papier Mache Yahoo group that I belong to. It started with a comment from Lucky Stradley, who mentioned that she went to a doll-making workshop with a Russian dollmaker who uses bone glue in her paper mache dolls. It makes the dolls extremely hard and break-proof. We started talking about the possibility of the bone glue replacing Elmer’s in the clay recipe, to make it a bit more “archival.” If you have any interest at all, go join the group if you haven’t already, and read the posts with “Delamination Solution” or “Bone Glue” in the subject line. It was suggested that the bone glue might make the clay too hard to sand – if you do any experiments, please let us know how it turns out.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled program…

I started the mask with a flattened ball of crumpled paper and masking tape, which I squinched and pressed until it was the general shape of Heath’s heart-shaped head. (I’m sure I’m violating all sorts of copyright laws here – oops.)

Starting the Joker Mask

Then I added the brow bone, cheek bones, nose and mouth with aluminum foil covered with masking tape. Most of the modeling was done with the clay, so I didn’t stress too much about the form. If I took the Joker a bit more seriously, I probably would have spent more time on making the form, but it still came out OK. I’m not a portrait sculptor, not even close, so I was counting on the makeup to cover any mistakes in modeling.

Filling out the Form for the Joker Mask

I applied the paper mache clay, and smoothed it with the flat side of a damp knife blade. I left the eyes open so I can see out when I go trick or treating.

Applying Paper Mache Clay to Joker Mask

I threw the mask in the oven set at 200F and left it for several hours. When it felt firm enough to hold it’s shape, I removed the inner form. The clay next to the masking tape was still wet, so it went back in the oven for a while. If you try this project, be sure you don’t try to remove the backing too quickly, or your mask might warp while it continues to dry.

Joker Mask, Form Removed

It’s a bit rough inside. Again, if I was taking this project seriously, I might line the inside with felt to make a nice soft surface. (I tried it on, and it actually fits.)

When it was completely dry, I covered the clay with a few coats of gesso, made with two parts joint compound, one part Elmer’s Glue-All and a dab of Burt Sienna to give it that “flesh tone,” as the Crayola people used to call their Caucasian pink. Do they still do that?

Adding Gesso to Joker Mask

When the gesso was dry, I smoothed it out a bit with a damp sponge. I didn’t want to smooth it too much, because the texture would help make that creepy makeup effect.

Smoothing the Joker Mask with a Damp Sponge

I brushed on some white “grease paint” over the flesh color, and when it dried I added the black and red patches. I discovered that somebody left the cap off the black paint. Who could that have been? (Why are there never any scapegoats around when you need one?) But I managed to dig out enough.

Adding Makeup to the Joker Mask

Now some hair was added, using some old burlap I had from another project. The burlap was brown and I needed yellow, so I tried to get rid of the brown by running it through the washer with some bleach. It stayed brown. Note to self – burlap should not go in the dryer – next time I’ll remember.

For some reason, gluing the hair onto the flesh-colored bald spot was kind of creepy.

I used some yellow paint to lighten the hair a bit, but it needs more. And I used a glaze made from acrylic glazing liquid and a bit of Burnt Umber to bring out the creases and wrinkles on the Joker’s face.

Adding Hair to the Joker Mask

And he’s done. Hair could use some work.

After spending the day with this guy, I’m starting to think I might watch the movie after all. Maybe.

Joker Mask with Paper Mache Clay

After I was too far along with this mask I found some photos of the Joker with much more interesting expressions. I hope someone else will try this, and maybe use different resource photos. If you do, be sure and let us see how it turns out.

Shrek Head - Pepakura Model + Paper Mache Clay

In my last post I included several photos that showed sculptures made with a paper mache clay skin over an armature created by a computer design program called Pepakura. I mentioned in the post that I would love to know more. Simon, the creator of the sculptures, was kind enough to write a very detailed explanation of how he uses paper mache clay with his models, and I was so impressed with his comments that I asked him if I could use them in a new post. He was kind enough to agree, so the following description is by our guest blogger, Simon Doyon.

Since he included a sentence written in French in one of his recent comments, I’m going to guess that Simon lives in France – I’m sure he’ll let us know if I guessed wrong…

I know many of us, especially those of a certain age like myself, have never even considered the idea of using a computer to help us create the armature for a paper mache sculpture, and much of this tutorial will be over our heads. However there are lots of folks out there who already know how use this design program to create 3D objects. Now, thanks to Simon, they’ll soon know how to make a hard, paint-able shell over their paper sculptures, and turn them into permanent works of art. (For the rest of us, there’s a lot of tutorials on YouTube that explain how to make the models with the Pepakura program).

And now – here’s Simon…

First, you must have a 3D model that you want create in real life. I suggest that this model is under, let’s say, 400 polygones. You can modelized yourself or take a model already made. I prefer modeling myself because I can create it with the Pepakura part in mind…

Second, you need to unfold the model in a software called Pepakura Designer. Basically what this software allow you to unfold or decomposed your 3D model in 2D pieces with reference number.

Third, you have to print, cut and score your 2D pieces in sheet material, in this case cardboard. The more precision you can get on this part (and on the following part) the greater the final model will be.

Fourth, you have to put all the piece together in order to build the real life model. This can be hard and long process (2-5 hours depending pn the complexity of the cpu model).

Fifth. You must prepare the completed model to receive the Pm clay. Since there’s a lot of water in the clay, you have to waterproof the paper. I found out that you can do that even before you cut your pieces, just laminate the sheet of cardboard with clear box tape. But you can apply the clear box tape after building the model, just be carefull to follow all the model’s details and grooves.

Finally, once the model is waterproofed, you can apply the pm clay with a wet knife. Since the cardboard model is a hollow shell, you will perhaps have to temporary fill the interior void with some kind of material to allow you to put some pressure on the shell without bumping/sraping/breaking it. I suggest expandable foam (apply it close to the shell, do not attempt to fill all the void with that, it’s kind of expensive). Let it dry for a couple of days and when the exterior is dry, you can remove all the paper and foam inside since the pm clay do not permanently stick to the box tape. With all the interior stuff removed, the sculpture will completly dry within a few more days.

It took me several months to discover and mastering this technic and it’s workflow. Yet there’s more to experiment. The pm clay recipe was the final touch on this and allow me to give strenght and smooth on my sculpture with reasonably cost. Hope it will help you and give you some ideas. Just ask if you have any question.

I’m done (!).

Simon Doyon

Helmet, Pepakura Model + Paper Mache Clay, in progress

Thanks, Simon! I can’t wait to see what sort of comments and questions we get for this post. By the way, we’ve received a lot of questions about making masks and helmets, and I usually refer them to an old post I wrote about making a ceremonial African mask over a cardboard armature. Simon’s idea of using plastic tape over the cardboard to keep the damp clay from getting the cardboard wet, (which could cause the piece to warp while drying), is an excellent idea to use even if you don’t make your model using a computer aided design program.

Baby Chick

I started this project to test a modification to the paper mache clay recipe that was suggested by Ginny in a comment on our paper mache clay page. Her idea of substituting glycerin for the linseed oil in the recipe started a lot of activity in the comments section, so I just had to do some experiments and see if it would work.

I just received my (larger than requested) order of baby chicks, so I’ve got chickens on the brain. That explains my choice of subject matter. I also wanted to create a bird that stands on two feet, since the balance issue has always been slightly intimidating to me. As it turned out, it really wasn’t as hard as I always thought it would be.

Wire Legs and Feet for Baby Chick Sculpture

I started out by bending some wire into a “U” shape, then adding all four toes. If I did this again, I would not double the wire on the back toes this way – it did make it easy to tape the feet together, but it made the back toe too heavy, as you can see in the photo above.

Baby Chick Legs Covered With Tape

The wire was completely covered with masking tape to prevent rust from migrating through the wet clay and ruining the final finish on the bird. If I make another bird I’ll look for some tape that stretches a bit better than masking tape, so the wire legs and toes will be smoother. I’m considering the tape used for bandages, but that’s for another experiment…

I also padded the thigh area at this point. Since I had some aluminum foil on my work table I decided to use it for padding instead of the usual crumpled paper. Of course, the paper would have worked just fine.

Padding the Baby Chick's Body

I started padding the body, building up the separate parts as I worked. The lower tummy was first, fitted inside the wire that connects the two padded thighs. Then I added the chest and neck, and then filled out some more on the back and added the head and wings. Since I was using aluminum foil, it was easy to pinch a bit on the front of the head to make a beak. All of the foil was completely covered with masking tape. When the body was filled out I bent the legs to make sure the bird would stand up without support.

Adding Paper Mache Clay to Baby Chick

Now I made up a batch of paper mache clay. Instead of the linseed oil in the recipe I used about two tablespoons of glycerin. (I found the glycerin at Rite Aid, next to the hydrogen peroxide. It’s also used in soap-making, and as a laxative suppository. I think I bought the last bottle in town). The clay worked nicely, and I was able to apply it in a very thin layer over the masking tape. Since we’re having very warm weather this week the clay dried very fast.

To make the clay seem more “fuzzy” than smooth, I first spread the thin layer of clay on the baby chick, then dabbed it with the end of a stiff stencil brush. You can see in the photo that it made tiny bumps all over the chick.

Paper Mache Clay on Baby Chick Sculpture

I used the edge of a knife to make tiny feathers on the tip of the chick’s wings. I took a ball-point pen apart and used the end of the ink tube to make the eyes perfectly round. I used extra clay to form the cheeks and beak the way I wanted them. The photo above shows the chick after the clay dried, just before I painted her.

Finished Baby Chick

The photo above is another view of the finished chick. You can clearly see in this photo that the back toe is too thick, as I mentioned earlier. Next time, I’ll do that part differently. Other than that, I think she came out quite well. The body shape and the legs make her a more challenging project than the paper mache bluebirds, but it would be fun to make up a few chicks for Easter decorations.

Naturally, I couldn’t stop myself from setting the “fake” chick in the brooder, just to see what the real chicks would think of her. I don’t think they were fooled:

Baby Chicks

Black-Footed Ferret

I’ve been working like crazy all week, but I don’t have much progress to show for it. I’m still trying to find a formula for the paper mache clay that will work well in a rubber mold. So far I’ve completed one black-footed ferret, with a plaque based on an ancient petroglyph at Wyoming’s historic Legend Rock. (Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions about the plaque at the end of the post about making the rubber mold. I didn’t follow your ideas exactly, but the feedback helped point me in the right direction.)

I chose the carving from that location because the last wild population of black-footed ferrets in the US was found in that state. I’m hoping that the rough “rock” behind the ferret will somewhat mitigate the critter’s excessive cuteness. He looks so innocent, doesn’t he? (False advertising for a highly effective carnivore, but we do seem to be genetically drawn to that high forehead, big button eyes. We can’t help it.)

The walrus is almost done, but I haven’t finished sculpting his background rock.  I did find ancient petroglyphs from Siberia near the habitat of the walrus, though, and I’ll be finishing the mold for the plaque today. And I found an Arabian oryx that was carved on a rock wall in Saudi Arabia, so the other two critters should be done soon. I really thought I’d be whipping out these portraits quickly – at least one a day – but all the experimentation (and messing around in general) has really slowed me down. I want to do a timber wolf and a big-horned sheep next. One thing I’ve discovered is that I really enjoy doing the head sculptures more than I enjoy making the full critter, complete with legs and tail, etc. Since I’m having fun with it, that’s probably what I’ll be doing for a while.

Tell me what you think of the “rock” background. Does it work?

OK, back to the experiments. I will figure out how to make the paper mache clay work in a mold the same way every time – but I’m not there yet. Back to the drawing board.

Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture

The tortoise is finally done – almost. This photo is really false advertising, since his paint is still drying. I’ll walk to the hardware store in a few minutes to buy the marine varnish I hope will protect him out in the wilderness near my pond. He’ll stay in the house until several coats of varnish are dry. Will he survive outside? I don’t know yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

I painted the ploughshare tortoise in three steps. I guess you could call it four steps if you consider the time it took to find good reference photos. It was a bit confusing because I found photos of totoises with two strikingly different variations in the color patterns on their shells. I didn’t know why they were so different – do the patterns change as the tortoises grow older? Is it a sign of genetic diversity? (Seems hardly likely when there are so few left). Then I found this page, which may clear up the mystery. Some of the other websites I visited made no distinction between the Radiated Tortoise and the Ploughshare Tortoise. I hope I can trust this last page I found, because that’s the pattern I used for my tortoise. I guess it doesn’t matter all that much, but I did want it to be reasonably accurate.

Painting the Tortoise, Step 1

I started by mixing up a very light yellow, using yellow ocher, raw sienna and burnt sienna. I thinned it with water and acrylic glazing liquid, so the white of the gesso underneath would show though. I painted this mixture onto the tortoise with a large soft brush, and then wiped off most of it with an old cloth. This stains the gesso with a natural-looking warm yellow.

Painting the Tortoise, Step 2

After the yellow was completely dry I added just a touch of ultramarine blue and titanium white to my yellow to make it light gray. This was brushed over the exposed skin on the head, legs and tail, and wiped off. By now the bumps and ridges are already starting to stand out. I let this layer of paint dry overnight.

Painting the Tortoise, Step 3

For the last layer of paint, I mixed up a burnt umber glaze and covered the entire tortoise. I wiped off most of it, leaving it in the dips and crevices. This made the ridges on the shell stand out nicely. I then added more burnt umber to the bit of glaze left in the container, and darkened it with ultramarine blue. I used this for the eyes and the dark stripes on the shell. I used the old rag to wipe off some of the dark color along the edges of the dark areas. It looks a bit messy, but I think it’s a fairly realistic rendition of a ploughshare tortoise’s shell.

This project took a lot longer than it should – partly because it’s been raining so much lately, (I tend to slow down when it rains), but mostly because I got so excited when it stopped raining. In the last few days I’ve been gardening, weeding, planting, and walking in the woods with the dog. Now I know why my blog gets fewer visitors during the summer!

However, I do have some more projects planned. The first project will be another experiment: I want to find out if I can use the paper mache clay in a rubber mold. This week I’ll sculpt a mask of a Caspian seal, another endangered critter. I’ll use potter’s clay for the model, and when it’s dry I’ll make the rubber mold. I don’t yet know if it will work, but I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out.

And one last thing – be sure to take a look at some of the recent photos that have been sent in by readers. If you click on the links below you’ll go to their comments and photos. Some of these folks have blogs, where they tell us much more about their projects.

• Tani sent in a photo and detailed information about how she made a beautiful “bronze” sculpture of her husband. For more views of this sculpture, click on her name above her comment.
• Debbie sent in a photo of two very large paper mache  elephants she made with her graphic arts students.
• Leonard sent two photos of his coyote mask (you can see the mask in use on his blog).
• Pat showed us her paper mache horse, and told us how she created the texture of the mane and tail.
• And Judy sent us a photo of a very large standing paper mache giraffe she made for her new baby’s room (sheshows us how she made it on her blog).

I wish I could figure out a way to make it easier for people to find comments like these, because I want everyone to see these wonderful paper mache and paper mache clay sculptures – any WordPress experts out there with ideas?

Ploughshare Tortoise, Adding Textures

The ploughshare tortoise that I started a week ago has been progressing slowly. I blame the rain. Everything seems to slow down at my house when we have unending clouds and rain – it just seems like the best time to curl up with a mystery novel and hibernate for a while.

However, I have now started on the fun part of the tortoise project – the textures. That’s really why I wanted to do this sculpture in the first place. Before adding any paper mache clay I did some more pushing and squishing on the crumpled paper armature, because I found out that the top and bottom shells are attached differently than I thought they were. Then I added a thin layer of paper mache clay and let it dry.

Once I had a nice solid layer to work on, I started in on the bottom shell. Last week Xan found us a photo of a baby tortoise upside down. I intended to use that photo for a model, but I read a bit further in my book by Jane Goodall and found a color photo in the center showing an adult male ploughshare tortoise upside down. It looked very different from the lower shell of a baby tortoise. (One thing I’m learning is how much I don’t know about tortoises). I used the photo in Jane’s book as a model and added clay to the bottom shell of my sculpture:

Ploughshare Tortoise, Upside Down

I added some clay to form the head details, and then started working on the bumpy leg textures. I used plastic film over a thin layer of clay, rubbing the clay smooth through the plastic. Then I used a tube from a ball-point pen, which I took apart, and used the ends to make circles in the clay. I used the plastic again, just to smooth out the texture a bit, although this probably wasn’t necessary.

Ploughshare Tortoise, Adding Bumps to Legs

Then I drew the geometric pattern on the top shell, and added clay to each raised area, one at a time. I used the edge of a knife to press the lines into the clay. In the photo below I have just a few of the raised areas finished. You can see in the photo at the top of the post how the shell will look when it’s all finished. I should have all the shell’s texture finished today.

Ploughshare Tortoise, Adding Texture to Shell

I may spend a bit more time on the face, to make it a little more realistic. I know it isn’t quite right the way it is now. Then I’ll let the entire sculpture dry for at least a week to make absolutely sure it’s dry before I add the color. I intend to finish it with marine varnish and let him sit in my flower bed near the pond during the summer – this is an experiment to find out if the varnish will protect the sculpture. We should know by the end of summer if it’s a reasonable thing to do or not.

Next week I’ll show you how he looks when he’s all done. I know my tortoise wouldn’t win any prizes at a science fair, but I can see that creating accurate sculptures of rare species would be an exciting career choice for an artist just starting out. There must be people working in museums who do that sort of thing – what would a job like that be called?

Endangered Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture, Ready for Paper Mache Clay

Today I started a small sculpture of an endangered Ploughshare Tortoise, (Geochelone yniphora) — also known as the Angonoka, Madagascar Angulated Tortoise, or Madagascar Tortoise. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about endangered animals lately, and I found the story of this tortoise in Jane Goodall’s book Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink. There are only a few hundred left in the wild. They were put in jeopardy first by habitat destruction, but now they’re threatened by the illegal pet trade. Four of these extremely rare animals were recently stolen from their hidden reserve to sell to rich people who like to collect the last of things.

I think it’s much nicer, for many reasons, to collect images of rare species, or (even more fun) make our own paper mache sculptures of them. I did that recently with our friend the chimpanzee, another threatened species.

This morning I built an armature for the tortoise out of crumpled paper, masking tape, cardboard and old padded envelopes. I started by making a ball out of crumpled paper and tape, and flattening the bottom, as shown below:

Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture, Step 1

Then I added the head, legs and tail. I’m not worried about details at this stage because I’ll add those when I apply the second layer of paper mache clay. (This project would work with traditional paper mache strips and paste, too, although the interesting textures of the skin and shell would be more difficult to do.)

Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture, Step 2

Now we have a naked tortoise, so we have to add the shell. (Today I learned the difference between a turtle and a tortoise – turtles live in water, tortoises live on land. As you figured out already from reading two of his common names, this guy lives in Madagascar, a large island off the east coast of Africa, and home to many rare animals.)

I had some old padded envelopes sitting around, and I used three of them to make the upper shell. Much cutting and taping and testing was needed to make it fit. At this point it’s just sitting on top of the body, but I’ll tape it on next.

Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture, Step 3

Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture, Step 3a

Now I taped the top shell onto the body, and cut a piece of cardboard for the bottom shell. I could not find a photo of a Ploughshare tortoise upside down, so I made a guess about the shape of the lower shell. However, we do know that the bottom shell has an odd horn-shaped (and uncomfortable-looking) protuberance that sticks up under the beast’s neck. That’s where the common name “Ploughshare Tortoise” comes from. I cut that into the piece of the cardboard, bent and curved it, and padded it with a little bit of crumpled paper and tape.

Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture, Step 4

This is how he now looks from the bottom, with both top and bottom shells taped on:

Ploughshare Tortoise Sculpture, Step 5

You saw how he looks right-side-up at the top of this post. The next step is to add the first layer of paper mache clay, which I’ll start doing as soon as this post is uploaded. I’ll be creating the textures on the skin and shell when the second layer is added.

Drying will take some time (it’s still raining, so I still can’t try out my new solar dryer, which is still sitting in the garage. I can’t believe how much rain we’ve been getting this month.) Since the solar gizmo is out of commission, I’ll bring a fan into the house and set the tortoise in front of it. That should help it dry faster, even in this humid weather. I’ll put up another post as soon as I have more to report…

Chimp Bust, Paper Mache Clay

Recently Carmen asked me why I like using Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid for painting my sculptures, so I thought it would be fun to show you how I use it. I confess – I don’t feel very comfortable using a brush, so my painting technique feels more sculptural than painterly. I put on color, rub it off, and let the sculpture itself “paint” the details for me. It’s probably “cheating,” but I’m quite happy with the results. Chimp is a handsome fellow, don’t you think? (He needs a name – any suggestions?)

The bust itself was made with paper mache clay. Here’s how I added the color:

Painting the Chimp, Step 1

First I applied a layer of home-made gesso (1 Tablespoon joint compound, 1 teaspoon Elmer’s Glue All and a dab of Titanium White acrylic paint). When the gesso dried I mixed up some acrylic paint — Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna — thinned with Glazing Liquid. I painted this over the chimp bust and then removed most of it with a cloth. This stained the gesso a warm light yellow-brown.

Since the exposed skin of a young chimpanzee is the same color as the skin of a human of northern-European extraction, I had a handy model for the color – my arm. I needed more pink, so I made up another glaze using a higher proportion of Burnt Sienna, and applied this over the first layer of glaze after it dried. The first glaze still showed through.

Painting the Chimp, Step 2

You can already see the details beginning to stand out. The fur on the chimp’s sideburns and head, the deep recesses of his ears, and around his eyes retain more color, while most of the color is rubbed off everywhere else. The skin tones are also starting to get interesting on the ears and muzzle. The chimp is still too orange, though, so I added one more glaze for the skin. This time I used Cadmium Red Light, with a touch of Raw Sienna to warm it up. I added a lot of glazing liquid so the glaze was very transparent. I applied this color just to the face with a soft brush, and did not rub any of it off. You can still see the first two layers of glaze through this pink, just as you can on white people’s skin (chimp’s skin will darken to black as he gets older).

Painting the Chimp, Step 3

Now he needs some hair. I mixed up some black using Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue. I used a dab of glazing liquid mixed with a little bit of my black for the skin on the upper portion of the chimp’s face that is beginning to darken, and then rubbed most of it off. I left the color dark around the eyes and the deep shadows beneath the overhanging brows, and inside the nostrils. I did not put any black on the muzzle, eyebrows or ears.

I painted the black without glazing liquid on the hairy areas, leaving just a bit of the underlying color showing through in a few spots.

Painting the Chimp, Step 4

The final step is to paint the eyes. I painted the pupils black and waited for the paint to dry. Then I mixed up a small amount of Burnt Sienna with a touch of Raw Sienna to warm it up. I added a drop of water to make it slightly transparent. I painted this reddish brown over the eyes, then removed it from over the pupils with a Q-tip, and also rubbed off a bit of the new color from the lower portion of the eyes below the pupil to make the eyes slightly lighter in this area. Then light-gray highlights were added to the pupils (Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna).

Painting the Chimp, Step 5

Now I just need to seal the sculpture with matte acrylic varnish, and sign it. I think he turned out quite nice – he’ll sit on my computer desk and keep me company. Because I used the glazing liquid to fill in the details and to add depth to the skin tones on the ears and muzzle, I can’t really say I worked very hard to make a fairly realistic portrait of a chimpanzee. I like the bust idea, too – it would be interesting to see if it would work with an animal that looks a bit less like Beethoven – someone like a golden retriever, for instance.  Have you tried it? How did it turn out?

Paper Mache Anubis by Tiffiny Hosterman

I’ve received some fantastic images this week from readers, and it’s been difficult to decide which artist’s work to post first. Tiffiny’s “life-sized” Egyptian sculptures were created for her daughter’s prom, but I sure hope they find a permanent home where they can be on display. Fantastic job. Here’s what Tiffiny said in her email to me:

I found your website a couple of months ago when I was attempting to build an anubis out of paper mache for prom.  Prom was last night and I not only made 2 anubis but a sphinx and 2 standing anubis (the face was the only thing I made from paper mache).  You had asked me to share pictures of my projects so here they are.  Thank you so much for your website and the advice you gave to me in my learning experience using paper mache.  My next project is a sandhill crane.  I do have to say I had a little trouble with the paper mache clay so I only used it on one anubis.  The problem I had was the texture.  I was unsuccessful in getting it smooth.  I don’t know if  I didn’t sand it good enough or what.  Anyway, a success none the less.

Tiffiny Hosterman

I admit that I had to look up the word “anubis” when I first heard from Tiffiny. I learned that this is “is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology.” You learn something new every day! (I’ll give you all a hint about getting the clay nice and smooth without sanding after you see the photos below).

Sphinx

Another Sculpture

Am I the only one old enough to remember a Senior Prom decorated with crepe paper streamers? Tiffiny did a fantastic job on these decorations – I hope the kids know how much work went into them.

Tomorrow you get to see a wedding decorated with fabulous paper mache trees – but first, how to make paper mache clay smooth without sanding: Spread your clay onto your form, and then dip the knife into water to dampen it. Run the knife’s flat side over the clay to make it smooth. Or, you can place a piece of plastic film over the clay and then use the flat side of the knife over the plastic. When the clay is very dry, make a gesso using 1 tablespoon joint compound, 1 teaspoon Elmer’s Glue-All, and a dab of white acrylic paint. Apply the gesso to the sculpture, and when it’s completely dry use a soft dampened brush to smooth out all the brush marks. This will fill in any tiny gaps that are left in the clay. If you use several layers of gesso, your sculpture can be made as smooth as porcelain.