Today we have a guest post by one of our readers, D. Smith, who has worked as a paper mache artist for over 20 years.
©2016 D. Smith
What is the best kind of paper to use for paper mache?
Rigid papers make good armatures when rolled. I know artists who have used rolled newspaper armatures exclusively. Sadey Card, a Chico California artist, used rolled paper for all her armatures. She wove it together to make large pieces. Newspaper is good for this. If you are working smaller deli paper is good, even more rigid and less absorbent. Of course cardboard and wire are quite good but we are discussing paper.
Note: If you’re looking for paper mache recipes, you can download Jonni’s free PDF guide, The Five Best Recipes for Paper Mache, here. And if you’re looking for easy project to use with paper and paste (using any recipe and your own favorite paper or paper mache clay) check out my animal sculpture patterns.
Jonni and other artists use toilet paper for paper mache clay because it breaks down easily. Regular paper towels have a high disintegration rate as well. I use them damp under other papers to add bulk where I don’t want so much breakdown but some moldablity.
I often make wads or lumps of other materials to build up bulk and then use paper towels and Blue janitorial paper towels over them like a skin over muscle because of its very high stretch-ability rate. The Blue towels will perform muct like cloth without pulling apart, bursting or tearing. I make eyeballs with a filler covered with them and rolled up into ovals.
These are just a few examples of paper properties:
Paper is wet cellulose (plant fibers) that are pressed together and dried into sheets. Some characteristics of paper that affect paper mache work are as follows…
- moisture retention (absorbency)
- strength
- how much can you pull it before it separates (tensile strength)
- how easy is it to tear with or against the grain
- stretch-ability (extensibility)
- disintegration rates (how easily does it break down in water?)
- fold-ability, (usually refers to how easy it will fold) but with paper what is its ability to keep and hold a fold
- rigidity
Lets look at some papers used in paper mache and some qualities that effect their use. To do this we’ll place some papers on a continuum. This is not based on scientific, chemical properties dealing with molecules and fiber length etc., but on direct observation.
Blue janitorial paper towels:
- High rate of absorbency
- High rate of resistance to bursting
- High rate of stretch-ability
- Very low rigidity, flops, even when dry
- Doesn’t tear straight easily with or against the grain
Newspaper, copy paper
- Middle range absorbency
- Middle range resistance to bursting
- Low rate of stretch-ability
- Medium rigidity, especially when dry
- Tears easily, straight with the grain
- Medium disintegration rate
- Medium tensile strength
Deli paper
- Low absorbency
- High rate of resistance to bursting
- Very low rate of stretchability
- High rigidity, especially when dry
- Tears easily, tears straight with the grain
- Very low disintegration rate
- Very high tensile strength, does not pull apart easily
Toilet Paper
- Very high disintegration rate
- Very low tensile strength, pulls apart easily
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