Dear Brothers and Sisters in Papier Mache,

Tuesday is the first day of the after school "Explorations" class in papier mache that I'm giving for 9 1st through 3rd graders.

I've given myself a crash course in papier mache prep and sculpture the past few weeks, and I feel ready.

Except I feel confused about this:

The instructions I see say to paint with acrylic OR with "podgy", the stuff that makes water-based paints permanent.

We will likely be using tempera paints at school. If I ad podgy to the tempera paints, isn't that self-defeating if the purpose is to have a paint that is washable off of kids' clothes?  Any solution to this paradox?

Also: we're advised to gesso the dried papier mache' pieces. I can do that, but in my first experiments, I've painted dry papier mache with acrylic WITHOUT gesssoing, and it looks nice and bright. What's the purpose of gesso, does it make the appearance smoother?

Finally, the matter of varnishes. Are they safe for kids to use? I suppose they're necessary to make the final result nice and glossy. I guess if they're not safe, I could do the varnishing, and that may be necessary anyway, because the class meets only an hour a week for 4 weeks, and I want to maximize use of the kids' time for creative work.

Thanks!
Max Reif
Walnut Creek, CA
feel free to e-mail me at REALnothings@comcast.net