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My 9 yr old daughter has to create a jaguar for her rainforest project. It needs to be 24" or smaller. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions that could assist us? Her daddy is a total idiot when it comes to papier mache projects!!!
Thanks,
mark
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The simplest way might be to enlarge a silhouette of a jaguar, transfer it to two thin sheets of wood, or multiple layers of heavy cardboard. It must be sturdy enough not to flex when it gets moist. Securely tape the two silhouettes together at the cat's back and glue a couple of corks or scrap pieces of wood to hold the design open in an A shape, so it can stand on all four feet.
Then make some paper pulp and mix with adhesive (half and half plain white pva craft glue will do). Take smallish lumps of pulp and apply to the silhouette, building up as needed to fill out the cat's body and legs.
Dry thoroughly and paint.
Sue
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Alternatively scrunch some newspaper into sausage shapes, one for the body and head and then two thinner ones for the legs. Make the thin sausages into hoops and place them over the body to make a basic cat shape. Tape the whole thing up like a mummy using masking tape and then layer strips of newspaper and glue.
I know it goes against the grain but use pva / white glue. I have done a lot of pm with children aged 7 -9 years old and they cope best with this type of pm and this type of layering. It also makes a nice rigid shape for children to paint over afterwards. ~For the base colour you could layer coloured tissue / paper and then paint on the spots and eyes. I would cut out paper ears to be stuck on with glue.
Keep it simple, 9 year olds are very capable but their hands are not always big enough for difficult shapes. They also tend to be impatient so traditional pulp can be frustrating for them, white glue dries harder faster.
Best of luck,
Charlotte
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Thanks for your replies! What type of paint do you recommend that I use once the pulp is dried?
<mark
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Acrylic paint. If you want it to last (posterity, you know), give it a coat or two of varnish afterward.
Sue
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If you are working at speed in class, acrylic craft paint (it is liquid and easier for children to paint with than artist's acrylics) and then you can either varnish with pva/white glue. This dries clear, stops the paint from cracking but doesn't last long.
Alternatively a clear woodvarnish (suitable for children's toys) is ok, or yacht varnish. The latter is slightly yellowish. The final types of varnish should only be painted on by you and not your child.
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I ended up making a paper pulp/glue mixture for the project. We put the piece together on Monday. Today the piece is still very damp and some of the pulp is falling off the piece. What type of drying process is normally used? I've been regluing the parts that are falling off. Any other suggestions? Thansk!
Mark
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Put it in front of a fan. Even a small one will do. The moving air will help it dry. Anywhere you have warm air (not up to combustible temps) will also help.
If the pulp seems too moist, you might try pressing paper towels gently against it to soak up the extra moisture.
Sue
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