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I have just discovered this site by accident and it is fantastic. I have never done papier mache but I think at last I might have found what I am looking for. I love craft in any shape or form. Want to get involved with my granchildren's desire to make things, from carnival stuff to sculpture and art. Can anyone please tell me where to start. I am so impressed with the gallery - wow! I never knew so much could be made from newspaper and glue!! Now that winter is drawing in what a perfect thing for us to get involved with. Please someone give us some guide lines, and congratulations to all those who have photos in the gallery - just brilliant. 
Cheers
Carolyn
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Hi Carolyn. Where to start is a great question and perhaps overwhelmeing. There some great tutorials and books out there that can guide you through the starting process, for example, "Paper Mache Today". This book may be a great starting point for you and you can find it for sale on many Internet Stores. Also, since you are here at this site, you can visit the tutorial section she has and perhaps pick up some tips there. I most certainly would be able to advise you via email if you like. Whatever you would like to do. I think you will be great at it seeing as you seem to have much enthusiasm and that is great! Set a goal for yourself and let's get it done! 
Have a great day!
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Hi
Thank you so much for your reply - I am getting very excited at the prospect of getting started - I just need to get my husband to subscribe to his newspaper again!! we have just moved from here from London to get a "new life" and have vowed not to get embroilled in "media rubbish" which appears in all newspapers and live our new "craft /music lives" without the gossip, terrorism threats, sex scandals and total lunacy that seems to be infiltrating everyone's life. BUT - I now know that I do need a newspaper as a medium - so I guess I will in future not read but use
Will take your advice and hope that in 6/12 months time I have something to show in the gallery.
Many thanks again for your reply - most appreciated
Cheers
Carolyn
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Hi Carolyn,
You really don't need to subscribe to newspaper, there's so much paper out there. Don't you ever get local advertisment or paper at your door step? Try not to spend money on paper mache, but rather recycle the garbage around. That's the beauty of it all.
As to a first project, I remember starting with a simple baloon and layers of paper that turned to be a nice bowl.
Good luck, Peace,
Ayelet
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Hi Carolyn. Oh please, I recommend that you do not spend money on the newspaper when you can obtain it for free if you look around. Newspaper is not the only paper you are limited to; you can use use your unwanted junk mail; pages from old phone books, giftwrap paper, gift tissue, specialty, handcrafted-paper, (great for final layer), and notebook pages. You can also use copy paper, flyers, mailer coupon insetrts and all that great recycleable stuff. That is the beauty of this craft - mother nature at our finger tips and we put it all to good use! Let me know when you get started! Have a great day!
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Dear Carolyn,
a good place to start is with a balloon, as another adviser said, or also with an upside down bowl. you can put a plastic bag over the bottom of the bowl and coat it with papier mache. this can be turned into a sun or moon, a mask (think owls, lions, cats), a bowl, or any other circular thing you can imagine. don't be afraid to use scissors when you have made your shape to alter it too. Elements of cardboard are easy to incorporate, cut out shapes (like cat ears) and mache them onto your circle......
good luck out there, I too left the world several years ago with my husband and am now living in the middle of a great green forest..it gets lonely quite often. The only time I DO read the newspaper is when I am papier mache-ing and something interesting catches my eye. usually it's already ripped into a strip though, so I only get a few lines.
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steal your neighbor's paper! kidding, kidding usually local grocery stores have free publications printed on suitable newsprint. i have no idea if it's the same in london, but i'm sure that there is free literature somewhere. recycling centers, as others have mentioned. you can probably just purchase a paper as you need it. (we subscribe to a local paper and it's way too much paper for me to deal with).
like rachel mentioned, molds are a good place to start. it's the fundimental starting point for papier mache.
this site has a wonderful step by step introduction for papier mache which talks about materials and such:
http://papiermache.co.uk/exec/cms-docum … iew/id-23/
then i'd start out with something simple, like jackie's bowls.
http://papiermache.co.uk/exec/cms-docum … iew/id-19/
once your comfortable with the process of papier mache...
http://papiermache.co.uk/exec/cms-docum … tutorials/
good luck!
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I don't know how old this topic is, but another great place to get paper is schools ^0^ I get all my paper from old school work, but you can easily just walk in, and ask for old papers and I think they'll be glad to get rid of it lol. The paper especially piles up at the end of the year. @___@ The kids like to throw their papers, binders, and all sorts of stuff away then.
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Welcome to the forum, Carolyn. A few months ago, I was just like you. I thought it would be a fun thing to do, but didn't have a clue until I found this forum. My suggestion is to read the basic instructions, then let the muse take you wherever it wants to go. My first project was a cat which I first formed out of balled newspaper and tape, covered with 3 layers of strips (newspaper, white glue, wallpaper paste mix) and finished with a layer of pulp (newspapers mooshed into oblivion and combined with white glue and newspaper paste). I dry my pieces in front of our pellet stove because it has a great blower. Use whatever paper you can find. If you do use newspaper, a word of warning when making pulp: wear rubber gloves unless you want to live your life as a purple person and think twice before using the method where you throw newspaper into an old pillow case, tie it and run it through the washing machine. It took me hours to get the darn thing clean again!
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