Paper Mache

[Anonymous]

I need everyone's help...i am trying to start the scenery on my layout ( i have a plywood base with foam board over it. I am trying to do the paper mache route and i am having trouble...i tried to use paper towels but i can't find a mixture that will work and make the paper towels dry hard. If anyone can give me possibly a mix ratio or tell me what i may be doing wrong it would be a great help! thanks

[cacole]

Try to find some hydrocal or casting plaster. Either one of these can be mixed to a very watery consistency, you can dip strips of newspaper, paper towel, etc. in it, and then form your mountains accordingly. Additional coats of watery plaster can be added with a paint brush until it gets as thick and hard as you need it to be. Hydrocal is usually sold at hobby shops in quart or half gallon paper cartons similar to a milk carton. Casting plaster is sold in bags at hardware or home improvement stores, usually in a 100 or 110 pound size. The most expensive alternative is to buy the plaster soaked gauze sold in rolls at hobby shops.

[Anonymous]

I apply my papier-mache over a carved foam substrate, so that it is solidly supported and not a shell the way hydrocal advocates usually go. I don't use any sort of "towel" or other sheet material, though; instead, I use ground up cellulose as my base, preferably a product called Cell-U-Clay. I also add in joint compound, real dirt, and other water-soluble color or texture agents, mix it to a peanut butter consistency, and trowel it on using a plastic spoon. The key to this method, though, is to get a good foam base to work on. For this, I use expanding foam insulation, the kind that is sold in hardware stores in spray cans, intended for use in filling the gaps around doors and windows. With it, you can literally sculpt a mountain with a spray can, though it'll take some getting used to because of how much it expands. Once cured, you can easily carve it back with a big kitchen knife, and even reuse the shavings to build up other areas.

If you really need to do a shell rather than a solid foam substrate, then use chicken wire or metal screen of some type over which you apply the soaked towels, but even then, consider the towels to be a substrate and the spooned-on material to be your finish layer. An average 1/4" thickness of Cell-U-Clay with approximately equal parts of joint compound mixed in will form a decently rigid shell, though it will still be soft enough to poke holes through when it comes to planting trees.

[Anonymous]

Avondaleguy,

Where did you get the Cell-U-Clay from? This method sounds interesting and I would like to try it.

[Anonymous]

Cell-U-Clay is available at most art supply stores, as well as craft / floral stores like Michael's. If you can't find it at all, you can actually make your own, which I did do when I was a dirt-poor college kid. All you need is a blender you can dedicate to the messiness, and the patience required to tear up newspaper into small (1 inch maximum) squares. A paper shredder would help out here, if available. Basically, you're just going to puree up some newsprint, which is the same as what you get when Cell-U-Clay is mixed in water. Another potential source is the blown-in cellulose insulation that builders use; you may be able to find some at a construction job-in-progress, especially one where it is being removed as construction debris. Talk to the foreman, see if he'll let you bag up some, then take it home and puree it in a blender as well. The big advantage of Cell-U-Clay is that it is already ground up fine and stores easily in its dry state, so buying it at a genuine retailer will be worth it.

[jkeaton]

Hydrocal is also widely available at home improvement stores and lumber yards in larger and more economical quantities - however, it may not be called "Hydrocal". Look in the section for finishing gypsum wallboard (gyprock) walls, and in with the joint compounds and the Polyfilla will be hard plasters for finishing walls and doing repairs. (This is what Hydrocal was invented for, but it has been outclassed today.) Current brand names include Ultracal (in the USA) and Durabond (in Canada, some parts of northern US). Ask the clerk for the hardest plaster available, if you're not sure. (Durabond comes in several grades - all of them will work, but the hardest is the strongest - look for a higher number - Durabond 200 rather than Durabond 100 - or read the label!)