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There are many different ways to do paper mache. In most cases
you start with a shape (plastic mold, balloon, ...), lots of newspaper,
and the mixture.
Recipes
Recipe 1 - Mix equal parts of white glue and water.
Recipe 2 - Mix equal parts of white flour and water.
Add more water if it is too thick.
Recipe 1 is easy for small projects. Recipe 2 works and is much less
expensive for large projects (like volcanoes or piņatas)
The next step is to tear the newspaper (or tissue paper, paper towel,
kleenex, or even toilet paper) into strips. Put some strips
into the mixture to soak. Then apply them to the shape. Keep
adding layers until your shape is covered. Then let dry at least
over night.
Hints
Use wax paper as a work surface. Most paper mache won't stick
to it.
Clean up spills fairly quickly. Once they are dry, they are
much harder to clean.
Don't soak all the strips at one time. About 4-6 is enough.
Cover the mixture with plastic wrap if you need to work on the
project over 2-3 days.
Use a balloon for your shape. The paper mache can be used to
create all kinds of shapes (coiled snake, dog's head, or even a computer
screen). Leave a small section bare while it is drying. When
dry, pop the balloon and remove the pieces. Put the goodies inside
the piņata, and cover the hole with more paper mache. When it's dry,
use paint to decorate it.
This piņata was made from a large balloon. Rolls of newspaper
were soaked in the paper mache mixture, then coiled around the
balloon. A small balloon was added for the head. The round
shape of the balloon was painted gray, as if the snake was coiled around
a rock.
Put the mask form on a piece of large piece of wax paper. Using
the recipe above, apply the layers
of paper mache to the mask. Use smaller strips of paper when making smaller
objects like the mask. When dry, remove the mask and paint.
Use cardboard to add interesting shapes and features to the
mask. It could be a nose like a bird beak, out the frame around
the head in the Egyptian Death Mask.
Cut out the cardboard into the shape you want. Hold or tape the
cardboard in place while you lay strips across the join between the mask
and the feature. Don't run the strips along the edge of the
joint.
paint (depending on your selection
of tissue paper).
Making the tree will take some time
over 2-3 days.
Newspapers come in variety
of sizes. The size of your finished tree will depend on the
size of the paper. This tree was made from a smaller
tabloid-size newspaper and is just over 1 ft high.
Place two sheets of paper on top
of each other. Starting from the shorter end, roll the
paper so that you end up with a tube that is 2 ft long and about
1 inch wide.
Use a piece of tape to secure it
in the middle.
Use scissors to cut the tube in
half starting from the top to about 1/3 of the way up.
These two sections will be the branches. Wind some tape
around each of the branches so that they keep a generally round shape.
Make a total of 6 newspaper rolls
following these directions.
Glue or tape the paper tube to the
center of the cardboard.
Take the first paper roll and bend
it about 1/3 of the way up. The lower section forms the
root. Place the middle of the roll against the cardboard
tube and tape in place. The branches should stick out at
odd angles away from the tube.
Repeat until all six rolls are in
place around the tube.
Tape the roots in place around the
tree. You may want to bend some of the at odd angles.
Be sure to shape the branches so that they stick out in all directions.
Start tearing the tissue paper into odd shaped
pieces about 1 inch sq. If you have brown tissue, go ahead and use
it. Otherwise, just pick a light color and you can paint the trunk
when it is finished.
Mix some white glue with water, about half and
half. Or you can use a paper mache mix (equal parts flour and
water).
Wet the paper in the glue mixture and then apply
it to the tree. Wrap the pieces around each of the branches.
Cover the roots, and add some texture to the ground around the tree.
Make a ring (about 2 cm or 1 inch wide) and add
it to the trunk to make a knot.
Let dry over night.
If you didn't use colored tissue paper, get the
paints out and let the kids paint the tree. You might want a few
shades of brown for the tree and variety of greens or browns for the
ground.
When everything is dry, squish sheets of green
tissue paper into loose balls. Glue these 'balls' around the tree as
leaves.
Warning
If you
leave the tree in direct sunlight, the tissue paper will fade over time.
However, it is easy to remove the faded sheets and make a new set of
leaves. You could even change it with the seasons.
