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Hi I have quite a bit of experience with papier mache and it’s great to find this site.
I have been asked by a youth group to facilitate them making the front of a car (Life size) which they want to put up on the wall of the youth centre as if it has just crashed through. I’ve done a search of the forum for similar projects but not having attempted anything this big before I would like to hear comments on my projected technique.
Plan to use a real car as a mould with cling film as a separating agent. Then a layering technique using PVA glue + news paper, Then PVA plus tissue paper, then a layer of gum strip and then another layer of PVA and newspaper.
When it’s off the car we can make an internal structure from willow or bamboo to keep the shape but is there anything we can add between the layers to help with that- wire maybe or plastic conduit?
For smaller pieces in the past I’ve used Future/Klear floor polish as sealer, does anyone have any other recommendations. Any help appreciated.
Pat
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Q: what is "gum strip"?
I'm keen on your method. You could layer with metal mesh- but the finishing/filling consequences might be unsavory- you might be better served by using fabric (canvas, cotton duck, etc). I'm think'n do as you said (car+plastic wrap+PVA mache), then fill the negative space with expanding foam (GreatStuff, etc) embeded with a few pieces of armature and mounting brackets. To do this, you will need to support the work while it is removed from the car; you could cut large pieces of cardboard to fit the major front profiles, like a slice form, with the edges away from the car terminating on a plane; remove the cast from the part, flip the whole onto the slice form to act as mother mold and staging table for the foam fill. Tediously over complex. A much simpler approach would be to frame the car (say, with 2 X 4's) where the imagined wall line would be and extend the plastic wrap from the car to the surrounding frame along the part line (a laser level would be handing for tracing the part line on the plastic); filling the space from frame to car with foam would be a great help; when papering the model, paper up the foam to the frame. Remove the part from the model, cutting only as necessary for removal. Attach legs to the frame and rejoin all parts on the frame. The part will need to be supported- with sand, chunks of foam, packing peanuts, what have you -while you apply expanding foam and armature to the inside, then cut out any negative elements and free the part from the frame...
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Gum strip is paper tape with water activated gum on one side
http://www.hillas.com/Products/Light_Du … 72X450.asp
It's great stuff and really cuts down on drying time- I use it for masks and head dresses.
I like the idea of framing the car where the wall line will be and will probably use that. I have used expanding foam before but I'm wary of using it with young people as it is STICKY and hell to remove from skin and clothes 
Maybe I'll do that part 
Last edited by parkadge (2011-06-17 14:10:20)
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Hello, Parkage:
I discovered recently that using brown paper (from heavy-duty brown wrapping paper to brown-paper supermarket bags) makes for much stronger papier mache (for the strips and glue method). Newsprint has very short fiber, and therefore tears and breaks more easily. Brown paper has longer fiber, and behaves a bit more like a fabric. If you tear your strips rather than cut them, you will also gain strength, again because torn fiber has more tensile strength than cut fiber. The bull mask on my gallery was made using brown-paper grocery bags, about 5 layers. The result was quite strong enough to be worn and banged around, and it had minimal inner bracing. I formed the mask over a cow skull, using plastic food-wrap as a mould release like you described.
Best regards! Scylla
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You can also use Bond (office) paper. I have used alternate layers of brown (kraft) and bond to produce a very strong laminate.
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If the word "paper" is a consideration, ya can't beat blue shop towels for strength- dispensed on rolls, found at most any hardware/home supply store/Wal-Mart, inexpensive; alternate with another fiber source and layer coverage is easy to discern...
Last edited by mavigogun (2011-06-19 12:53:20)
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Good morning Parkadge.
Glad you liked the "Bull Mask".
Regards acquiring brown paper bags...I bet your students will happily bury you in bags from home (smile). A fine opportunity to inspire the youth to recycle and repurpose materials.
I look forward to seeing your auto-project on this site!
Best, Scylla
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Very useful info re bond paper and blue paper towelling from dopapier and mavigogun I have access to both.
scyllac14 wrote:
Good morning Parkadge.
Glad you liked the "Bull Mask".
Regards acquiring brown paper bags...I bet your students will happily bury you in bags from home (smile). A fine opportunity to inspire the youth to recycle and repurpose materials.
I look forward to seeing your auto-project on this site!
Best, Scylla
You would think but maybe it's just the youth here but I always ask them them to bring stuff and they never do
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I agree with the others that newspaper isn't strong enough to use for the wide spans in your project, except possibly as a lining material to protect the car.
For using the expanding foam: latex or nitrile gloves and old (disposible) clothing are crucial.
And be sure the owner of the car isn't going to need it for a while!
Sue
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Yet another idea for the general support. If you take corrugated cardboard, laminate it (as many layers as you want) using PVA, make boxes or rectangular tubes in varying sizes, you can easily fill a space and have an amazingly strong structure. With a jigsaw you can spin up a structure in minutes.
DavidO
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Have you seen Andre Willemsen's car front? He has used real headlamps for a realistic effect. http://www.papiermache.co.uk/gallery/item/3/
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http://www.lasocietadellarte.com/en/catalogo.php?id=188
Here, a plaster mold was pulled from a car, then papered.
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That looks amazing. Unfortunately we didn't have the time or the space to do that
In the end we only had access to the car for a couple of hours each session and then we had to remove what we had done. So we lost the shape of the original. Each week we restretched it but it didn't really work out. We would have been better just making a chicken wire armature to work on. Great learning experience though.
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parkadge wrote:
Each week we restretched it but it didn't really work out. We would have been better just making a chicken wire armature to work on.
Absent any of the other necessary ingredients -car, paper, adhesive, children, etc- the outcome and need for an alternative would have been clear- but time? That's an abstract judgment- subject to desire. My time estimates are chronically low; after careful consideration, I still have to multiply projections by four to approximate a realistic figure!
Last edited by mavigogun (2011-07-21 09:28:01)
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Time ALWAYS seems to be the issue with papier mache!
It's either the time it takes for enough layers for strength, the time it takes for smoothing the paper down properly, or the time it takes to dry.
Then you start it in hot, dry weather, and that seems to invite a cool, wet spell.
It's summer here in western Washington State, but you wouldn't know it by the weather. It's raining now. It's been raining since spring. Spring was wetter than winter. Even if it warms up to 70F (21 C), it's raining, and then a cold wind starts blowing.
The papier mache hates it.
The tomatoes hate it.
But the peas are as happy as clams at high tide.
Whooppee.
Sue
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