My latest paper mache commission
Hi everyone,
In the next few posts I'll be chronicling a very complicated paper mache project.
The operations manager of a restaurant close to my home contacted me at the beginning of September and asked if I would make them an elephant and a donkey for this coming political season. They wanted a paper mache elephant and donkey to hang in the middle of the restaurant. Other than asking for those animals, the only other requirements were that the projects had to be somewhat articulated and that they needed to be more than 4 feet tall.
I was under the pressure of time from the beginning. As you might guess, the larger the project, the more "engineered" they have to be. With big projects like this I like to make large, paper mache shells first, then add reinforcements later. And paper mache takes a long time to dry. Thick paper mache can take a week to dry.
I don't do anything exotic here. I crumple many balls separately and then tape them all together. It's a little hard to see in this photo, but I have at least 30 crumpled balls all taped into one big mass. The first photo is a side shot. Yes, I do go through lots of masking tape! I'm adding a photo of me and Eddy next this crumpled mass (from the front) to give you a sense of scale. Say hi to Eddy! He really enjoyed this project!
This is going to be the elephant of course. I put the "head" ball on top.
The body of the donkey was much more manageable. I needed probably 10 crumpled balls taped together into an elongated body for this piece. This next shot was taken the day after after I added the paper mache to the bodies. I inserted a long threaded bar through the elephant. That way I could hang the giant ball and let it dry from all sides at once. I don't like sitting such a heavy piece on a flat surface when it is first wet. There is a tendency for a big wad of wet paper like this to compress and change shape.
I let these dry for five full days before I cut them open. Still, they were a bit damp in the middle (I told you paper mache takes a long time to dry thoroughly.). I pulled out the wads of paper inside leaving two very large shells to work with. (By the way, I threw those crumpled wads of paper into a pile to paper mache again for use in later projects.)
More soon! Thanks for popping by!
In the next few posts I'll be chronicling a very complicated paper mache project.
The operations manager of a restaurant close to my home contacted me at the beginning of September and asked if I would make them an elephant and a donkey for this coming political season. They wanted a paper mache elephant and donkey to hang in the middle of the restaurant. Other than asking for those animals, the only other requirements were that the projects had to be somewhat articulated and that they needed to be more than 4 feet tall.
I was under the pressure of time from the beginning. As you might guess, the larger the project, the more "engineered" they have to be. With big projects like this I like to make large, paper mache shells first, then add reinforcements later. And paper mache takes a long time to dry. Thick paper mache can take a week to dry.
I don't do anything exotic here. I crumple many balls separately and then tape them all together. It's a little hard to see in this photo, but I have at least 30 crumpled balls all taped into one big mass. The first photo is a side shot. Yes, I do go through lots of masking tape! I'm adding a photo of me and Eddy next this crumpled mass (from the front) to give you a sense of scale. Say hi to Eddy! He really enjoyed this project!
This is going to be the elephant of course. I put the "head" ball on top.
The body of the donkey was much more manageable. I needed probably 10 crumpled balls taped together into an elongated body for this piece. This next shot was taken the day after after I added the paper mache to the bodies. I inserted a long threaded bar through the elephant. That way I could hang the giant ball and let it dry from all sides at once. I don't like sitting such a heavy piece on a flat surface when it is first wet. There is a tendency for a big wad of wet paper like this to compress and change shape.
I let these dry for five full days before I cut them open. Still, they were a bit damp in the middle (I told you paper mache takes a long time to dry thoroughly.). I pulled out the wads of paper inside leaving two very large shells to work with. (By the way, I threw those crumpled wads of paper into a pile to paper mache again for use in later projects.)
More soon! Thanks for popping by!
Posted by Dan the Monster-man at 9/29/2010 1:56 PM 
Categories: Paper Mache Party Animals
Tags: paper mache sculpture papier mache crafts mixed media
Categories: Paper Mache Party Animals
Tags: paper mache sculpture papier mache crafts mixed media
Holy cow! Those are HUGE! I can only imagine how much masking tape you went through. I'm amazed you managed to complete these in a month. Great job!
I can't wait to see more!
Linz
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Hey Lindsey,
I just knew you'd be here in a blink! You are so funny! Yes, this was a huge job. I don't want this kind of pressure again for a while. I'm too old. There were times when I actually used a hair dryer in place. I've always told people that it's really impractical to try to speed drying, so I felt pretty stupid standing there doing that.
But it's done. I feel good. I'll sleep well tonight.
Thank you as always for checking in!
See you!
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Your work is amazing!! thank you for all the helpful tips!!
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Thank you Damian! I'm glad I can be of some assistance. Let me know if you ever need more specifics.
Take care
Dan
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Great start! Can't wait to see the progress and of course, the finale! I really appreciate you sharing your steps with us, I was just thinking tonight on how to do a large project I have in mind and thought maybe a couple big garbage bags filled with spare pillows and comforters...I was wondering how to manage the shape so not to cause alot of fill-ins and add-ons.. The cutting it open would be a bit more time consuming..Then I saw this! I should have realized you were going to show your big pieces soon and they would be done the same way as the dragons! Thats alot of paper, do you know approx what height of stack of newspaper you used by any chance (fill AND covering)? And how many rolls of tape? one more..about how much did each weigh when you carried them into the 5 Spot? I am on pins waiting to see the end results, how exciting! Can't believe you did this in less than a month, thats pressure! Oh one more? About how many layers did it take to firm that baby up? I've put like 6-8 on a handfull of balloons and they still aren't really firm enough, going to add more..These must have been alot to get them strong enough to hold the next (assuming) bedsheet/glue layer?
Again, Thanks Dan
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Hi Suz,
Nice to hear from you. I'm glad that maybe this will help you somehow. It's amazing how much volume newspaper can take up when you crumple it. I didn't use nearly as much as you would think by looking at it. Don't get me wrong, it still took probably a two foot stack of newspaper, maybe a little more. I didn't keep track. Sorry. I think I used about 15 rolls of masking tape of various sizes. I know I used 7 or eight gallons of Elmer's glue. I didn't really keep track of how many layers I used either. I'll bet it was 8 in some places, fewer in others. As you know, it's hard to know how many layers you are using as you move around the project. I gauge it by feel. If it feels thin, I add more. Sometimes I get monstrously thick balls. (don't say anything) But it's all just a guess really. You don't know until it's dry how hard a particular spot is. It does get geometrically more complicated the bigger you get in this business. Of course that's just part of the challenge, isn't it?
I won't take as long to post as last time. I promise.
See you.
Dan
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Thick balls rock! Monstrously thick balls rock hard!
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Yes, this is true. Thank you for the comment!
Dan
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Hi Suz, in case you don't know it i use balloons excusively in large bulking & often shaping too. I like my projects as light & as hollow as possible. You can get a very strong balloon 'shell' with around 8/10 layers of paper. Heres how: Start with news print with 1" wide strips. Start at the top or bottom of the balloon & work in a 'spiral' form to around half way down the balloon with a 1mm/2mm overlap. Rotate & follow the same direction on the rest of the balloon. Now switch to 80gsm/100gsm white printer paper, then start a new layer in the 'opposite' direction repeating the overlapping etc. Swap between news print & white paper every new layer (whole balloon). Use PVA based white glue (Elmers etc) undilluted for the very 'first layer' but you can water down to around 60% PVA to 40% water after the first layer. Do around 6 layers & allow to dry in a warm room before adding enough layers to give the desired final hard shell. ALWAYS work in a warm room & dry above a heat surce (radiator) at approx 3ft or so above the heat source. I have a listing of techniques i have built up using balloons on my blog in the archives click on my name here to go there. I even had a posting recently covering when a shell splits on how to repqir it too.
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Hi Jonty, Yes, I have lurked around your site several times! Thank you for the info, I picked up some brown craft paper and am going to try that and white paper to see what works for me...Thanks!
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Yep, that takes some big balls to make those projects :/ I didn't have a clue it really took that much tape and glue..WOW! Thanks for the approximation, that was very helpful! Surprised it was only "about" 8 layers, Yeah, I know it hard to estimate when you're throwing it on! When my balloons dried, I thought well one more group of maybe 4 or so layers, but after drying again, they still felt pretty soft in places...I figured yours were at least 1/4 - 1/2 thick, but no? Thats good to know! (was thinking to save time and paper ball storage, I could use a "center" of plastic bag/pillows...)
Thanks again!
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Hi again,
What ever you put in the middle it's going to be heavy and need to be removed. There is nothing special about crumpled paper. I think it's as light as anything else. Actually, that bubble tape works great. But you'd need a lot of it to make something big. I really hesitate to add a second layer of paper mache once it is dry. It soaks the paper that is dry and can undermine your original mache. That actually happened to me on this big project. I tried to fix part of the big mass that was flimsy by adding some additional layers of paper strips. It just got all wet again and slumped over. It set me back a few days.
The thicker you make it, the longer it will take to dry. And of course, never, never put your paper strips in the paste. That just makes everything so much harder. It may never dry or get hard if you use the old squeegee method of applying strips. Just thought I'd add that. I haven't said that in a while.
See you
Dan
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I just noticed you said glue, so maybe thats why its stronger? You didn't use the flour/water mix on this at all?
Thanks!
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Maybe I misspoke. No, I definitely used flour and water paste for this first step.
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OK so the glue comes on the next step eh? Yeah, I wasn't thinking about the weight with the pillows, bubble wrap would be good, but without a supply, guess Newspaper is still the winner. Boy, didn't realize that re-applying paper layers would do that, but I haven't done a big one yet... works ok on small balloons and small projects...I'll keep that in mind! Definitely NOT dipping the strips has been one of the greatest tips you have taught us. You can work so much faster, it sticks and forms great and the paper isn't soaked..! Lovin that tip, for sure!!
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Hey again,
Yes, I'm a big fan of doing the paper mache part only once and letting it dry really well.
See you
Dan
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Lol been a while since you worked to those sizes Dan for a commision to with deadlines no less lol. I can understand your lack of enthusiasum for it lol. For me its the opposite whilst i mostly work to around 1/3rd life size (on my grim reapers) i find working small to be tedious lol. Saying that i will soon be starting some new grims at true life size half bodies wall mounted & miniture ones full bodied 20" or so tall as well as wall mounted half bodied as well lol. So far the build pictures are looking awesome. I can't wait for the rest to see what you went through for this project lol. Awesomem my friend keep it coming lol.
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Hey that's great a sculpture of paper. Nice blog. Thanks for posting.
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That is going to be huge! I can't wait to see the finished project. How are you going to keep it from falling down, or crumbling in on itself? Great job!
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Thank you for the comment. Yes, it was a big task. But you will notice later in the blog that there is metal inside the elephant to keep it from crumpling in on itself. I hope you check out the final project.
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This is great,what a huge paper mache.How'd you do that,you are so talented.
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Thank you for your nice comment. I'm glad you like the pieces.
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Your work is absolutely amazing! You have got to have so much patience. I have tried doing this several times but mine never look at good as yours! I just kept thinking to myself, "[url=http://www.chacha.com/topic/when-does]when does[/url] this ever dry!!" You should be very proud of yourself!
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Thank you so much for you nice comment Jessica! I really appreciate it. Realize that I've been doing this for a very long time. Keep making the art. You will become an expert. Trust me.
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Hey Dan! Thanks for your nice comments about my paper mache dear head. I have two monsters that my Dad made years ago from directions from your book in my studio. I'll take a photo of them and show you. I have purused your website many a time and am grateful for your generous sharing of the techniques that you've honed with your paper mache art. You are indeed on of the Paper Mache Gods!
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Hi Kelley,
I'm so happy to bump into your blog. I really enjoyed it. I'll make it a point to visit again.
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Wow, what great ideas! You seem to really love what you're doing. As a contractor for 15 years, I appreciate the creativity that you have put into these creations.
-Randy J.
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Thank you Randy.
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Hi Dan! I forgot to send you our pictures of Reggie- the 10 foot dragon. Ooops! Where do I send them again? He was totaly inspired by your work and wow- the kids just loved him. We even had a little "batman" who insisted on fighting Reggie before he ran off screaming. Thank you for the inspiration!
The project you're working on now give me yet another idea. Hmmmmmm
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Hi Kerri,
I would love to see this dragon! Send photos to dan@gourmetpapermache.com. Sounds like it was a lot of fun.
Dan
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