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Hi,
I wonder if you can help me? I haven't made ANYTHING in papier mache since I was a kid but I'd like to start.
I thought I would start with small things like jewellery. I saw a necklace on-line that was papier mache leaves. I don't think I've seen flat papier mache before?
Can anybody tell me how I would go about making something similar please???
Thank you in advance.
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Uh. I need a better description or better yet, a photo.
One warning. Paper is a great medium to work in, but it doesn't hold up to vigorous use. It'll break down. I would not recomend paper mache bracelets, but I think you can get away with necklaces.
Consider using polymer clay. It still isn't really rugged either, but it's tougher than paper. This is clay. You can mold it, fold it, make coils, sculpt it, and do anything that clay can do. Then you fire it in your kitchen oven. However, painting it doesn't work well. A chemical reaction occurs making the clay gooey again. If you want color in it, you mix pigment into the clay before molding it, or buy one or many of the various colors it comes in. Much jewelry is made with this clay.
This stuff is a little pricey, but not too. Check it out. It may be what you need.
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don't underestimate the power of lamination - but it has to be good. If you are following the leaf idea, here are some possibilities, depending on the size and thickness you want.
Take two pieces of thin card a little larger than the leaf you want to make. Glue them together strongly. This will either be with impact glue, spirit glue (hey, we're getting supernatural here 
) or PVA. It is essential they are held tight together while drying. This can be on a curved surface held by masking tape, elastic, string etc.
This might be enough for your needs or you can paste a layer of paper over the cardboard.
A more delicate possibility is to laminate about six layers of newspaper type paper but press it down really firmly (with a roller or back of a spoon or something). When fully dry, cut your shape with a sharp knife or scissors.
The paste must be about 70% Methylated Cellulose (wallpaper paste e.g.) and 30% PVA to give a consistency of thick cream.
DavidO
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Further to David's suggestion I am considering using an old fashioned flower press to get flat thin laminated sheets for cutting. I am a little uncertain whether the drying process would happen as there will be no air flow over the piece of laminate but plan to experiment when finished with the mound of projects in mid construction.
As soon as I have a result I will post success or failure as recorded.
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Along the same lines, I'm wondering if this will work. Take a thick paper (specifically, waterpaint paper which is quite thick and stiff to begin with) and soak it well in wallpaper paste + PVA. Let it dry. No other layers or other embellishments. Then you Gesso it, paint it, and seal it with polycrylic. Will this stiffen the paper enough to withstand moisture in the air and temperature changes?
It won't get handled very much so I'm figuring that this procedure will be sufficient. Any experience/thoughts on this?
These are gonna be butterflies on a mobile.
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Your signature line makes me laugh! 
Anyway here are some pics of what I was thinking of - I hope I'm 'allowed' to do this? :?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eleonorado … 414271278/
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OOOOH! Them's really pretty!
Yeah, you can do that with paper mache. No problem. But like I said, I wouldn't make bracelets, 'cause the paper would wear with various things that the wrist would come in contact with.
I'm working on a experiment right now. I got a single piece of paper that I soaked in glue to see if that would stiffen it. It looks like it's gonna work. You might try that approach. You could also emboss the paper, or build small slight domes on the paper with Creative Paper Clay. Then color away with paint and coat 'em with varnish. They'll be very pretty!
Wow! Those are quite impressive! I made jewelry last summer and that was pretty fun! But these are very different from anything I've seen, and they're worth a go! DO IT! Different sells!
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The jewellry is really lovely.
If you want a good starting point for bracelet design you can't beat Juliet Bawden's instructions in her book "the art and craft of papier mache".
Published by Mitchell Beazley in the UK.
It is a fantastic book and well worth seeking out a copy.
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Nice pics
Depending on how thick you want your leaves you could make sheets of kitchen towel paper by layering several sheets on top of each other gluing and pressing down each sheet with a household paint brush when you make these sheets thick enough you can sand them just like wood. You could also make small discs using pulp and use a lid or cap as a mold.
I'm making jewellry at the moment mainly bangles and necklace's have alook in the gallery uk flag Susan Oldfield
Sue
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Them is pretty aren't they! 
I forgot to say before, I'm not sure what you mean by laminating papier mache?? (remember I'm REALLY dumb - I haven't made anything in papier mache YET) The only laminating I've ever done was rose petals with the paper laminating machine 'thingy' - I'll just shut up shall I?
Oh yes, just to add to my dumbness I don't know how to emboss paper either? I looked at some of the gallery (which is huge and I also didn't know was there!!! LOL) WOW! There's some GREAT stuff there!!! Shall I give up now? LOL
I did understand the kitchen towel - is that easy enough to glue? And could you do the same thing with regular newspapers?
I'll have a look for the book - Thank you.
I e-mailed the person that made the jewellery and ask them how but they declined to answer, so that must have been very cheeky of me! I think they sell it anyway so that could be why too.
I'd really like to try making jewellery though as I have loads of ideas and scrap paper is plentiful!
Thanks for all your replies.
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Laminating as far as I'm aware of is the gluing of several sheets of paper or thin card together to make a stiffer paper or material to work with. How thick you need depends on how many layers of paper you glue together.
As for the kitchen towel paper, I use good quality paper to start with as the cheap stuff falls apart and flufs up.
Take a board cover it with cling film so the paper does not stick to the board when its dry.Then using a paint brush and a pva/water mix paste down the first so its flat then add another and so on until you have the thickness you require. When dry cut and shape, sand to how you want.
You can use other paper and paste and glue so try a few and see which works best for what you want. To me its all about trial and error somtimes more error than anything else .
As for embossing paper never done it with papier mache but Iknow you can get round head tools and soft blocks maybe someone else can help you there.
Sue.
Talk about having a dim moment :oops: embossing just add string or whatever you want to use to make a raised surface you could even make the pattern in between the layers as you go.
Bye
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Embossing is making raised surfaces on the paper, in the paper itself. There's a machine at craft stores that does this. It comes with different patterns. I'm not sure of the technique, but I suspect that you wet the paper, then the embosser squeezes down the low parts, leaving the raised parts alone. You can also do this with the back side of a knife blade. Simply press where you want the paper thinner.
Laminating = layering. You simply apply one piece of paper over another and glue them together. Warning: This causes the paper to curl, so you'll want a press to flatten it after it's dry.
Flattening is pretty simple. You need two boards, one on top and one on the bottom, then corrugated cardboard and wax paper. You put down a piece of cardboard on the bottom wood, then wax paper, then your 'sheet', then another wax paper, and another piece of corrugated cardboard, then the wood top. You then apply weight to the top wood, and let it sit for quite a long time.
You can press numerous pieces with additional layers on top of each other in the press. If you do this, be sure to line up the corrugations so that they all face the same way.
When you've got everything in place, add some weight to the top (a brick works nice). Then off to the side, set up a small room heater to blow warm air through the corrugation. About 100 degrees is all you need. THen you wait. The combination of weight and time flatten the papers. Adding a little heat shortens the time.
Google 'flower press' to see pictures of presses and how much time is estimated to get your paper or flowers flat.
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You might want to use watercolor (WC) paper rather than cardboard for your pieces, at least in the beginning. Arches brand is decent, and usually available at most craft places. Avoid ProArt -- it's awful; it used to have a purple cover, but I'm not sure what it looks like now.
WC paper is already textured (one side usually more than the other). Hot-pressed is smoother, cold-pressed is rougher, depending on your taste. Soak it in warm water for a half-hour or so if you want to form it or sculpt it.
You can also use the paper towels for pressing into designs. Candy molds can be useful for this, as they're usually small. Press the paper into the mold form with the eraser on the end of a pencil, but not an old, dry eraser.
As mentioned above, laminating is just gluing layers together, whether they are paper, cardboard, cloth or wood (plywood is laminated, for instance). To reduce curl, you might want to layer the material crosswise to the last layer.
The metallic paints and powders are lovely for jewelry.
Sue
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Avoid ProArt -- it's awful;
Now ya tell me!
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The metallic paints and powders are lovely for jewelry.
Sue
Those metallic paints are lovely on lots of stuff!
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I just wanted to say Thank you to everybody here.
I've never been on a site that is so helpful and willing to share.
Thanks!
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Yer quite welcome!
Remember: What comes around goes around. You'll be helping soon too!
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