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This article assumes you already know how
to make a plaster mould. If you would like a description of how to make
the plaster mould let me know and I will add it.
Just some pointers. This is a long
description of what may appear a simple task, but I hope you find it
useful and complete and you will be pleased with the result as it is a
technique arrived at by actual practice and not a re write of someone
else's un tried technique as is so often the case. What follows is a description of how to make a hollow head
which can be used for puppets or marionettes using
only paper pulp, it is not a new idea but this is my personal discovery on
how to do it as I have never seen a description of how to do it from
anyone else. There are many descriptions out there but they use glue or
paste. This one is made along the same lines as casting paper ( no glue or
paste, just pulp).
This is not Paper Mache. Word of advise before
you start. This whole process looks like a mess and you may think there is
no way this is going to work. I think the same every time I do it, but it
works and very well. It is also quite strong when finished. I have done
many drop tests from 6 feet onto a wooden floor and the heads do not crack
or break (NO long thin parts like long noises in my test and only done on
the completed head, not half a head, also no drop test was done on the
head below once it was modified and had a movable jaw added. I would
expect this one to get damaged if I dropped it). Part of the strength is
that they are very light. I can't promise they will not break but I find
them to be quite strong. Also if you followed the guide properly you will
find them totally water proof.
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Don't put any release agent on the
plaster mould. No Vaseline, no wax, nothing. The plaster mould must be
able to absorb the water away from the paper pulp.
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Any paper pulp will do but good quality
watercolour paper will be stronger and last longer then news
paper.
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Pulp the paper with hot water in a food
blender, from all accounts this should produce a fine pulp. Follow your
blenders safe handling instruction, for example if it is not safe to put
hot water in the blender then just use cold tap water. (Note that I have
not used a food blender for this, I used a different technique but will
not describe it here as it may be dangerous.) Pour the finished pulp and
hot water into a bucket as you are going to have to grab hands full of
it to line the mould.
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Do not put any binder or glue in with the
pulp. It is not needed and will make it less strong, it would also glue
it to the mould which you don't want to do. Paper is held together be
entangling it's fibers together the other part of it's strength is that
it holds together electrostatically. SO NO GLUE, add nothing to the
paper pulp but water. This is not paper mache.
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Grab a hand full of paper pulp and water
mixture out of the bucket of hot water and paper pulp mixture ( I use
kitchen rubber gloves at this stage as the water is uncomfortably hot,
it works better while hot, seems to mesh together better) and put it in
mould, gently line the inside of the mould (note plaster mould should be
at lest an inch thick for strength and ability to later absorb the water
out of the pulp ). It helps if the plaster mould is wet so that it does
not suck the water from the pulp while you are working on it . It will
get wet soon enough but it is a good idea to put the plaster mould in
water for a few minutes before you start, then take it out, give it a
shake to remove excess water and start to line it with wet pulp. Try to
keep the pulp wet, (wet but not in a pool of water, that is too much)
put more pulp in. Keep adding till the inside is lined with pulp, no
less then one eight of an inch and no more the a quarter of an inch
thick (just a guide and you need to guess, there is no real way to tell.
It is not critical, it only means that too thin will be too weak and too
thick makes the head heavier and also takes longer to dry.). The idea is
to get the pulp in the mould, and in place, but keeping it quite wet so
it will all still bond together. Now squeeze it hard against the inside
of the mould all over. Use a dry sponge and squeeze it into the inside
of the mould against the pulp to get rid of excess water (remove the
sponge). Now put the pulp lined plaster mould out in the sun to dry. You
really need to do all this early morning so that it has a whole day in
the sun. At the end of the day if it feels dry or at least a little
tough, gently remove it ( it is still very fragile at this stage). If it
is still damp put it in the oven ( I leave the head in the plaster and
put both half plaster moulds with pulp head still in them in the
oven on a tray, paper head up ) on a gentle heat with the oven door
slightly open, you are trying to dry it , not bake it so don't go away,
keep an eye on it. If the weather is very wet where you are, please note
that you need to get the head dry inside of 48 hours or it is likely to
go mouldy, that's why you use the oven. Use oven gloves to
remove them as the water is steaming out of the plaster.
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Once removed clean up the edges with a
razor blade .
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Mix up a very very dilute shellac (thin
with mentholated spirits) and paint the inside and outside of all paper
pulp parts and let dry. The idea is to make the paper pulp head stable
so it does not get soft in damp weather as it will if you don't do this.
The shellac solution is to be absorbed into the pulp head, not just sit
on it as paint, if it does sit on it then you didn't dilute it thin
enough.
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Glue the half heads together using
pva wood glue.
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Buy artist Gesso (the kind that is used
on artist's canvas) or make your own. Use chalk or Calcium carbonate, or
slacked plaster and mixed with a gelatine solution and water over
a gentle heat (for gelatine you can use food gelatine or you can use
rabbit skin glue). Available at artist's suppliers, it is basically a
gelatine derived from rabbit skin. What you are after is a brush
able solution that is not runny. Cover the whole head and let dry. Heat
up the solution again and give the head another coat. Let dry. Wash out
your brush, don't let it set in the brush or you can throw it
away.
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Lightly sand the head till it is smooth.
Done.
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If you want to totally water proof it as
in under water waterproof (remember the glue used to glue the two half
heads together is not water proof and also the gesso, even if it is
acrylic, it is also not water proof. )You will have to give a diluted
wash of Shellac to inside and out side before you paint your head and
you might want to use oil paint on the finished head. These things only
mater if you needed it waterproof or say you wanted to use the same
technique to make a toy boat or submarine, it is very versatile, it is
up to you what you want to make with it. But one point to remember is
that even if you did not require it to be waterproof you must follow
instruction number 7 or your head will not last long. You will have
noticed how in very wet weather your books tend to cockle and in
extreme dry heat they feel dry and almost brittle. Shellacking as
described in point 7 prevents this and keeps it stable. You may be lucky
enough to have air conditioning but many of us don't and if you did it
is questionable that your attic or basement is air conditioned and
that is were many things end up in storage so unless you don't care
about your hard work at producing it then point 7 is to be
recommended.
Now you can paint it with acrylic, water
colour or oil paint. The surface will behave just like a gessoed
canvas.
Some other comments. Paper pulp will
reproduce any surface texture . It can look as smooth and shinny as glass
(but not transparent), it can look like wood, it will even reproduce your
fingerprints (so if you have your finger prints visible in the original
clay model, the plaster will faithfully reproduce them on the inside of
it's mould and the pulp will reproduce then in full detail in the finished
pulp head prior to gessoing). In fact paper pulp will reproduce any
surface it comes into contact with, the only thing it does not look like
is paper.
Feed back and comments are welcome. If you
need additional advice I'll see what I can do, just send me an email
mariodonk@bigpond.com
This head is the same as the paper head on
the previous page but much modified. After the basic head was made as
described above I mixed up paper pulp and chalk and a PVA Glue. I
don't have a formula, just mix it till it is mouldable but still sticks.
Now you can make him look very old as in this example. His mouth opens and
closes, it is controlled by string and a weight in the mouth to open it,
pull the string and it closes. Now you can make him talk. The thin lips on
the bottom jaw are made by putting a vertical temporary aluminium foil
wall around the inside of the jaw and making a mix of PVA Glue and chalk
and with your fingers and the help of a brush building a thin layer
against the aluminium foil and the jaw. When dry you just carefully remove
the foil. It should come away and not stick. It worked on mine but you may
want to test that first. Why did I use glue this time? Well I wanted to
modify it. You can't just expect new pulp to stick to a dry finished head.
My reason for not doing this in the original was at the time I was not
trying to make an old head and second it has undercuts so would not be
able to be removed from the plaster mould with any ease.
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