AY Honors/Paper Maché/Answer Key
1. Name at least three kinds of bases upon which paper models may be shaped.
When wet, paper maché has very little form and will not hold its shape. So the first step in making a paper maché project is to make a base onto which the paper maché is applied. Bases can be made from many different items, including:
- Balloons: Inflate a balloon and tape other items onto it, such as paper cups, toilet paper rolls, or other items.
- Plastic bottles: Attach golf tees for legs to turn a plastic bottle into an animal (such as a pig).
- Aluminum Foil: Press the foil around a person's face to get an image of it. If the subject wears glasses, leave them on. Carefully remove the foil and place crumpled newspaper into it to help hold the shape.
- Paper Plates: These make an excellent base fr constructing a mask.
- Cardboard Boxes: Use small cardboard boxes such as those in which many food items are packaged.
- Wire and Wire Mesh: Form wire into the desired shape. Especially useful for this is fencing wire (such as chicken wire) and gutter guard mesh. Harware cloth is a little to stiff to work with.
2. There are two main types of paper maché:
a. Know how to prepare successful pulp
Pulp is paper which has been shredded into tiny pieces. First tear the paper (newsprint works well) into small pieces. In some instances, this will be good enough, but if you need finer pulp, throw the paper into a blender with some water. You can also get good raw material from an office paper shredder. When the pulp is as fine as you desire, add white glue and wallpaper paste. Amounts are not given here - you need to experiment to find a consistency that works well for what you are tring to do. Once it's mixed with glue, the pulp can be shaped like clay, or you can layer it onto a base.
b. Know how to prepare the glue
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup flour
Mix the flour into the water thoroughly with your hands, being sure to break up all the lumps. You might try heating the mixture too, but do not let it come to a boil. You can vary the amount of flour or water to make the glue thicker or thinner. Experiment to find what works best for you.
You can also add a few tablespoons of bleach to retard the growth of mold, but make sure everyone who is going to use the paste knows that you did this - after all, flour and water are the same ingredients that you use to make bread, and you don't want your Pathfinders performing any taste-tests on a bleach-laden batch of glue!
Glue is used with strips of paper which are layered onto the base. When the glue dries, the paper stays in place and binds together forming a (hopefully) beautiful sculpture.
