Paper Mache

[merlin]

ds1 wants to make an astronaut helmet.

Now, I know I need to blow up a balloon and then cover in the mache stuff - but how do I make it?

Thank you!

Paper and wallpaper paste, or one part flour to two parts water.

Tear paper into strips, paint balloon with wallpaper paste/flour mixture and start layering the paper on with more wallpaper paste/mixture.

Enjoy!

Thanks Daff - does sound very messy - ho hum!!

If you use pva glue (watered down a bit) and magazine pieces-which are thicker then newspaper, it's a bit quicker!

Thanks for the tip Jellykat

Oooh pva glue, you can stick it all over your hands and peel it off a la school.

Where can you buy it?

Not as pleasurable as Copydex tho'

We get ours from a cheapy shop, think places like 'The Works' bookshop do it.

I made a giraffe with DD a few years ago. I used watered down PVA too, messy but fun!!!

You can get PVA from loads of places, from small bottles in craft shops to large bottles in DIY stores!

Have fun.x

If you mix the PVA with warm water to start with it seems to mix better. You can use white kitchen roll as the final layer and it will be easier to paint over than magazine pages.

Oh my goodness that giraffe is amazine. Can I ask what's inside him? Wire? rolled up coragatted cardboard?

When i first started working at the nursery i work in now, a member of staff suggested making paper mache pigs, for the whole room, so that would be 12, never again, and in the 8 years i have worked there i have never done it again. Good luck

Your giraffe is fab (and your kids gorgeous!).

How long did it take? I'm not sure if I would have the patience.

Thank you, my DC look so young there! LOL DS is now at grammar school and dd in Y4!!!

pippop1, if you scroll down the link I posted it shows you a few pics of how we started the basic frame. It was a host of different things, cardboard, chicken wire...can't remember if I used things like bottle tops to help define kneecaps....

A word from the wise, remember to do it in stages, allowing it to dry in between 'coats' or the whole thing will get too heavy and your balloon will pop under all the weight and you will be left with a big pile of goo. Which is great fun but sort of defeats the purpose.