Paste and Clay Recipe

I get asked all the time for my paste recipe:

Six cups of flour + One cup of white glue + One cup of liquid starch.

Mix the ingredients with enough hot tap water until you get a thin (think thin pancake batter) workable consistency. Leftover paste can be covered and refrigerated for several days. You can also add either a capful of bleach, antimicrobial dish detergent or salt if you have concerns over the paste spoiling.

There are a number of different paste recipes and different people have their own preferences. I make no claims as to this being better than any other recipe out there, it just works for me. Try experimenting. Google “papier mache paste recipes” to see what other people other using and I’m sure you will find something that suits your needs.

If you want to make my papier mache clay, simply mix some cellulose paper insulation (available at Lowe’s or Home Depot) along with a cup of drywall joint compound into the paste until it is a firm and workable consistency.



No mystery, these are my ingredients.

Pumpkin Totem

This is a photo of some papier mache pumpkins I just finished.

The jack o’ lanterns are stackable because the bottom is cut out, I thought this was sort of a cool and different way to display pumpkins.

The complete pumpkin making tutorial can be found at:

http://www.stolloween.com/?page_id=67

Spiders In The Works

Here is my inspiration for some large papier mache spiders.

A small plastic spider toy I have had for many, many years:


And here is a a partially completed papier mache version:


These spiders were designed for a papier mache class I was going to teach, but due to multiple problems with their creation I nixed the class because I felt it would be more frustrating than fun. The spider technique I’m using is still a good solid approach, it just would not work in a classroom setting.

Very quickly here are the steps. First a small plastic grocery bag was filled with crumpled newspaper until it was the desired size for the spider’s abdomen. In this case the circumference of the abdomen was 23 inches.

A full sheet of newspaper was wrapped around the plastic bag and wrapped further with masking tape. The paper and tape helped create a nice round circular shape.



A piece of heavy duty utility wire was wrapped around the paper abdomen form, a loop was formed in the wire to accommodate hanging the prop for display and for the building process.

(Note that in the photo I’ve already attached the legs, but this step should be done after the plastic bag has been stuffed with newspaper, I’m making this up as I go along so I’ve made a few mistakes.)



Next the top half of a plastic water bottle (.5L) was hot glued to the abdomen. The bottle was filled with crumpled newspaper for strength.




Additional newspaper was taped to the water bottle to “bulk up” and create the head form.



Next, long sections of 16 gauge utility wire were passed through holes created in the newspaper/waterbottle using a large awl.

The wire will form the skeleton for the spider’s legs.




The legs were wrapped in newspaper and masking tape to give them shape. Some plastic strips cut from recycled milk jugs were hot glued onto the body and legs for support. Finally the entire body was covered with strip mache.




The last step featured here was the addition of papier mache clay giving the top of the abdomen some design/texture, more clay on the head and the addition of some eyes and hair (broom bristles)




Just realized the photos don’t show the eyes, no biggie because I didn’t really like the eyes anyway, they were too small.

Here’s the eyes:



The next steps:

Fix the legs, they are still weak and very rough looking. May add some hair bristles to the legs as well.

Fix the eyes, the spider pictured above used garbanzo beans (cue laughs now) but they really need to be bigger and smoother.

Add some detailing to the bottom of the abdomen and head. Also further define the fangs which were simply created by attaching corrugated cardboard cut-outs and defining with clay.

There was quite a bit with this project that didn’t go well, but I think the spiders have potential to be pretty cool.

It’s been a couple days since I have last worked on them so I think I can approach them with a fresh outlook and some fresh ideas.

Stay tuned.

Demon Reapers Invade Kentucky!

Angie from Florence, Kentucky was kind enough to share some photos of the progress she and her family are making on their very first Demon Reaper.

Judging from the photos it looks like they are off to a great start.




With the help of her two kids, the Demon Reaper is coming to life. Angie even has the neighbors helping by saving old newspapers.




The final prop sounds like it’s going to be a winner:

“…we are going to put him on a frame with the ribs showing and we are making the hands you have on here as well and we are also constructing a staff from paper machie with a claw hand at the top holding a smaller skull, for our demon reaper to hold!!! It will be really neat looking!!!!”





Thanks Angie for sharing your work. Please keep us updated on the progress and I’ll keep warning those visiting Kentucky as to the danger of your lurking Demon Reaper.
Happy Haunting!

Ollie, Oscar and Ozzy

Meet Ollie, Oscar and Ozzy, three very large papier mache insects that I started creating last May.

The threesome have been hanging around my basement for the past months and I finally got the incentive to finish them, they are now ready for paint.

The insects are meant to be yard or patio decorations, humorous, colorful, just for fun.

The bodies and heads were created from balloons, the legs from rolled newspaper and the wings from wire and yarn soaked in mache paste.

Ollie, the mosquito.






Oscar, the dragonfly.





And finally, Ozzy the really mishapen butterfly. I know he doesn’t look like a butterfly but that was his original intent…now he’s some sort of weird mutant whatever.






I’m excited about painting these guys, a departure from the normal dry brushing and dark color schemes of the Halloween props.

The inspiration for the color schemes comes from some of my favorite coasters at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.

Oscar the dragonfly will be painted using the color pallet from Cedar Point’s Raptor, lime green, pink and yellow.

Ozzy the mutation will be painted using the color pallet from Cedar Point’s Mantis, dark blue, red and yellow.

Ollie the skeeter will be painted using the color pallet from Cedar Point’s Maverick, Red, Yellow and Brown.

Multiple colors, googly eyes and exaggerated anatomy, what else could you want?

The insects were started in May because I had wanted to display them on our front porch during the summer…well, with a little luck they should get some display time in September.

NOTE: The string tied between the wings in the photos will be removed prior to painting, the string helped support the wings in the proper position during the drying phase.

Pumpkin Patch: Part III

Work continues on the pumpkin patch, the pumpkins are going in a few directions that surprise me…not so much evil as humorous, guess I’m in a light mood lately. Here are the pumpkins ready for the addition of papier mache clay.






One of the pumpkins features a large snake, the snake was made from newspaper wrapped around a piece of wire, considerable scale texture was added to the clay....the textue should look beautiful when dry brushed.






There is still a considerable amount of work to be done before the painting process. The pumpkins still need some refinement, sanding, and the addition of vines and leaves.







This goofball features arms and hands, still need to add some long fingernails. Reminds me of pacman for some reason.