Skip to main content

Start a Paper Mache making Business

Start a Paper Mache making Business


   

What You Need
  • Paste
  • Newspaper
  • Forms
Create Forms for Your Paper Mache
One of the nice things about paper mache is you do not need any special supplies! You can use many items found around your house to make molds and forms for your paper mache projects.
You can create forms for your paper mache projects easily. Here are some suggestions for items to use. Some can be used as bases for the projects, while others can be used to add specific details.
  • Balloons – All sizes and shapes are great for bases to rounded designs.
  • Cardboard – Corrugated cardboard is great for bases to projects; and lightwweight cardboard, like from cereal boxes, works well for details.
  • Chicken Wire – Use this as a base for large projects.
  • Masking Tape – Great for holding all the other things together while you apply the paper mache.
  • Newspaper – Besides being a key ingredient in holding your paper mache creation together, you can use it for creating details. Try rolling it to make an arm or leg, or crumple it up to make smaller parts!
  • Shoe Boxes – Cover with paper mache to make a fancy box, or use as a base for a bigger project.
  • Toilet Tissue and Paper Towel Rolls – Great for adding details like arms and legs.
  • Others -Aluminum Pie Pans, Blown Eggs, Bottles or Jars, Cardboard Ice Cream Containers, Detergent Boxes, Egg Cartons, Frozen Juice Cans, Juice Boxes, Oatmeal Containers, Paper Cup, Plastic Margarine Bowls, Soda Pop Bottles, Styrofoam Meat Trays, Tin Foil
Procedures
  1. Create your paper mache form (see above procedures in making forms) and prepare your desired paper mache paste.
  2. Tear newspaper into strips.
  3. Dip one piece of newspaper at a time into prepared paper mache paste.
  4. Hold the strip over the paste bowl and run it through your fingers to squeeze off excess paste.
  5. Stick the newspaper strip over the form you want to paper mache, and smooth it down with your fingers.
  6. Completely cover your creation with a layer of newspaper strips. They should all be over-lapping.
  7. After one layer is applied, let it dry about 24 hours.
  8. Add another layer of newspaper strips and let dry another 24 hours.
  9. Repeat this process until you get the desired effect, but you should have at least three layers.
  10. Paint, decorate and proudly display your creation!
Tips
  • Tear the newspaper into strips — do not cut it!
  • Be generous when dipping the newspaper strips into the paste — you want each piece thoroughly saturated!
  • Let each layer dry completely before adding another.
Paper Mache Paste Recipes
  • Use a simple mixture of flour and water. Mix one part flour with about 2 parts of water until you get a consistancy like thick glue. Add more water or flour as necessary. Mix well to get out all the bumps. Add a few tablespoons of salt to help prevent mold!
  • Similar to the above recipe – Put 4 cups of water into a large pot. Place the pot on the stove and bring the water to a boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil, mix together 1 cup of flour with 2 cups of water, stir well to get out as many bumps as possible. Once the water is boiling, carefully add your flour and water mixture. Simmer this mixture for 2-3 minutes, until smooth. Add a few tablespoons of salt to help prevent mold. Allow to cool before you try to use it!
  • You can use regular glue mixed with a bit of water. Mix using about 1 part water with 2 parts glue.
  • Use wallpaper paste. Follow the directions from the manufacturer to mix this paste.
  • For small items and intricate details, try using this paper mache pulp.
  • Experiment with liquid starch!
More Tips and Hints
  • Paper mache is a very messy craft! Make sure to cover your work surface, or you can even do it outside if weather permits. Make sure you cover yourself also!
  • Some creations can take several days to finish, so be prepared and be patient! Sometimes you will have to work for a little time every day adding new layers to your project.
  • You want to give your creation plenty of time to dry before you paint and decorate it.
  • Always tear your newspaper into strips instead of cutting them. For some reason the torn paper lays better on paper mache creations.
  • To help your creation last longer, seal it with varnish or acrylic sealing spray when you are done painting it.
  • For a natural look, use brown paper towels for the final layer of your creation.
  • Always make the last layer of mache with white computer paper or paper towel so that painting is easier. It takes far less paint. If you don’t do this, consider priming the project with white acrylic paint before you use the poster paint
Prospective Markets
  • Costumes, masks and head gear for school programs
  • Costumes, masks and head gear for parades, festivals and other special occasions
  • Animal shapes for children toys
  • Other props for school and theatrical plays



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Team Work - Meaning and Tips for better Team Work

A single brain is not always capable of making key decisions on its own. To come up with an efficient solution, an individual requires the help and advice of others. A team is established when individuals get together on a common platform with the common goal of completing a task. To guarantee optimum compatibility, team members should ideally come from similar backgrounds and have a single aim. To provide their best, the team members must complement each other and function as a single unit in tight cooperation. "There is no I in Team Work," as the saying goes, and each member must put the needs of his team first. Personal interests must take a second seat. Any team's performance is directly proportionate to the relationship between its members and their combined efforts. What is the definition of teamwork? Teamwork is defined as the sum of each team member's efforts toward the fulfilment of the team's goal. In other words, any team's backbone is its ability t

Scientists discover a new theory / The fundamental property of light – 150 years after Maxwell

Light plays a vital role in our everyday lives and technologies based on light are all around us. So we might expect that our understanding of light is pretty settled. But scientists have just uncovered a new fundamental property of light that gives new insight into the 150-year-old classical theory of electromagnetism and which could lead to applications manipulating light at the nanoscale. It is unusual for a pure-theory physics paper to make it into the journal Science. So when one does, it’s worth a closer look. In the new study, researchers bring together one of physics' most venerable set of equations – those of James Clerk’s Maxwell’s famous theory of light – with one of the hot topics in modern solid-state physics: the quantum spin Hall effect and topological insulators . To understand what the fuss is about, let’s first consider the behaviour of electrons in the quantum spin Hall effect. Electrons possess an intrinsic spin as if they were tiny spinning-tops,

19 Types Of Content Writing Services For Your Business

  It’s hard to know which type of content writing service is the best for your business.  There are so many  different types of content writing services  out there that it’s easy to get confused. You end up wondering if you’re choosing the right one for you. In this post, we’ll get rid of this confusion, once and for all. I’m going to list out the different kinds of writing services you could use.  By the end of this article, you’ll know whether you need a copywriter, a content writer, or a social media marketer and how they can help you achieve your business goals. This post is also useful for writers who want to hone their writing skills in a specific area. Let’s dive in and learn what types of content writing services exist and when you should use them. (Bonus – if you want to  hire the top 1%  of writers, go to the bottom to learn how). Types of Content Writing Services As we go through the list of content writing services, you will find that many of them overlap. That’s perfectly