Thanks Sue.  I'm going to play around with some CMC and see if I stumble on to something with a similar consistency and properties.  : )

I'll post back my results.

Warmly,

Beth

Thanks Sue, I will.  And what I'm thinking is to have a bowl of thick CMC goo (or maybe with some white glue and starch mixed in) for building or embellishing an armature.  But stick with my thinner CMC + white glue + starch for the regular strip work.  Because I agree, for strip work it would likely be more trouble than helpful. 

You recommended a book awhile back on sculpture techniques ... 3D Wizardry ... and in it he talks about using contact cement to build an armature.  (He's making a very large dragon piece -- I'm likely doing things a bit smaller).  I've been holding back because the only contact cement I could find was pretty noxious (or the tiny tubes of elmers contact cement that weren't really what I wanted either).  And if CMC can work ... that's lovely because I already have it.  : ) 

I did also find a reference to a non-toxic contact cement (while looking for something having nothing to do with papier mache, or sculpture, of course) ...  Titan DX.  So there's something else I can play with if this doesn't work. 

I'll definitely let you know what I discover.  : )

-- b

Success!  (I feel like I just found $20 in a pocket on laundry day.) ...  Here I've had CMC all along, but have only be using it after the armature stage ... not during.  : )

David, I confess I had read your article a long time ago, and in fact first used CMC in my paste recipe based on your and Sue's recommendation as I had some from a previous papermaking project.  I hadn't noticed or remembered your section about being able to twist and hold the shape. 

I'd been separating the ideas in my mind ... armature first usually using hot glue, paper, cardboard and masking tape ... then papier mache strips and paste.  It hadn't occurred to me that my paste might be useful in the armature stage.  (Thus the revelation of the video I mentioned above.)

In my experiments today I discovered that it's the plain CMC (vs. CMC+PVA+starch) that works best for me during the armature stage.  The CMC I use is A4M made by Dow Chemical ... I get it in 8oz containers from a local supplier (www.bookmakerscatalog.com).  And I actually preferred the CMC a little less thick than shown in the video.  I like being able to dip a cheap 2" paint brush in it and run that on the strip of paper or on the armature itself, and then smooth down a paper strip. 

I did some twisting and crumpling just to see that it works, and it does, happily so.  But what I did more of was rolling newspaper cores and then adding the cores to a previously made large paper mache tube base (cast from a sonotube -- used to make concrete columns) to build out a 2 1/2 foot pumpkin shape.  (It is Halloween coming up afterall.)

All told between making the 18 cores, attaching them to the tube, criss-crossing them to form the pumpkin top and adding 3 layers of strip mache, probably took less than an hour.  The detail layer will be pulp mache (or carton pierre? as I use joint compound in the mix) ... so I only need it to be solid enough to support the layer of pulp that will be added.

Did I mention I'm thrilled?  Thanks so much for your help.

Thanks bro...!
for giving so much inspiration.