Papier Mache' project

The term "Papier mache'" usually conjures memories of days spent in school making crafts. I remember my first venture which this art form when I was a kid when I made a small vase. In high school, we also engaged on something similar to papier mache but instead of paper as the medium, we used sawdust instead which lumber shops gave to us for free; all you have to do is ask and they would let you haul as much sawdust as you can off their production floor.

For this project, Jo-Lo and I decided to create some simple objects that we can hang above the kitchen window. There are three nails sticking out there where photo frames or bric-a-brac may have adorned the walls previously. We want something colorful and related to food. And so we settled on strawberry, ice cream, pizza, and a moon. Ummm... the last one was an afterthought actually, and we had enough pulp for four objects and so four it was.
For this project, we decided to use pulp exclusively. The ingredients are very basic: water and paper. Tear the paper into strips and submerge it into the water. There's really no guideline to having the strips, but small strips will enable the paper to soak up the water and break down more easily. Perhaps half-inch strips, 6-8 inches long will do nicely. Leave overnight.

On the following day, manually tear up the paper, which should be easy since the water has weakened the strips. However, some people would recommend using a blender and straining, and that is fine too. Ours is just a simple project so we're not picky about the pulp quality.
Drain off and squeeze as much water as you can off the pulp. Next, add the paste in increments as you mix it into the paper (see previous post in making paste). Keep adding and mixing until you get a consistency similar to clay, or something which you can already mold into something and at the same time the paste has been distributed all over the pulp.

Treating this pulp as modeling clay material, proceed to shape the pulp into something you want. You can see from the photo below our "sculpted" works of art.

Next step is to let it out to dry. This is where we have encountered a bit of a problem. With winter approaching, the sun and the weather is not as cooperative. But it's a good thing we only have time for this during the weekends and so it has a week to dry off! A simpler, faster way to go about having the shape you desire and not have 100% pulp which will take long to dry is to crumple up paper and shape it using tape or string, then cover it all up with pulp. But for now, we have to content ourselves with waiting for our projects to become dry.

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