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I need a good recipe for making papier mache pulp. Can anyone help please?
Hello Julie! I use the following method though there may be many. Perhaps others will post their own methods.
I've found that shredded office paper makes the best pulp. While I've used newsprint, it doesn't perform as well as the latter..
So. . .place shredded paper in a large bowl. Cover it with boiling water. Let it sit awhile, four hours or so.
After the paper has softened, create a basic mache by running it through the blender. Depending upon the amount of paper you use, this could take awhile.
Pour mache through a fine-mesh collander. Squeeze as much excess water from the mache as you are able. (I do this with my hands.)
To the pulped paper you will add a binder. I use wallpaper paste. Add a little at a time and work it into the pulp. Keep adding paste until the pulp easily binds itself together. It's almost as if you could roll your paste into a giant ball and actually you could 
Hope this is of help. Karen at www.farroutart.com
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Julie,
Karen has given you excellent, detailed advice. In case you want to experiment, here are some more recipes:
http://home.eol.ca/~props/recipes.html
Cheers,
Jonette
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in reply to karen's recipe - does the use of office paper as opposed to newsprint make the pulp stronger? i have been using newsprint pulp for the last couple of years but often find that parts of models break easily. would office paper be stonger?
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In my experience, office paper is just as good, though not stronger. Check your balance of glue and powder filler. Ordinary plaster can be quite hard but is coarser than plaster of paris.
I'm really writing because people often say 'use the blender'. Unkind to blenders and to cooks. If you have a drill, there is an inexpensive attachment for mixing paint. Put a very watery paper mix in a bucket or large tin and drill/mix away. Best to wear a large apron. 
Isabel, my apologies for the delay in response. However, it HAS been my experience that office paper is far easier to work with than newsprint. I DO use newsprint if i'm layering. The density of the office paper "weave" is far more conducive to pulping. When a project dries there is far less shrinkage than with newsprint. I've yet to mix plaster of paris into my pulp. I'll have to try it. 
karen
www.farroutart.com
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Hi Julie. Like the other member shave said. There are different ways to do things and ya just figure it out as you go. So, I will share mine which I love. I take about half a magazine and just start tearing into little pieces, about 1/2 inch sized. and then put thm in my huge pot with loads of water and a table spoon of bleach. I boil this for about to hours. I put it in my strainer and let cold water run through it until the liquid runs clear. Then I take my hand held blender and in a separate container I pour some abouut a cup of water and add a fist full of paper and I blend it into a much and drop it into a colander laid with a handi wipe or cheese cloth to drain excess water. I repeat the process until all is blended and then squeeze away more water from the pulp in the handywipe. To this pulp I add about a 1/2 cup of my pre-prepared flour paste. It could be more or less it all depends on how it feels to you. It is a matter fo a little practice. I hope this helps.
Pixel
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Karen, I have now tried pulping with office paper and it's great!! Thanks for the tip, I'm going to use it all the time from now on and save newsprint for layering.
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