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In the area that I live we have an outdoor art project going on. My company sponsered a 7 ft long, 4 1/2 ft tall, 34 inch wide fiberglass seat and I am the artist for it. We work with savings bonds and I was thinking of papier mache-ing larger photocopies of these bonds either all over or in a pattern onto this beast. Some questions to start... do i need to prime if i am not painting? what mixture should i use for the paper bonds, i was thinking wallpaper paste and/or pva glue? will my mixture keep the color of my paper is the MOST IMPORTANT...it must not fade in the sun or be ruined by any other weather elements. finally, i gather from the waterproofing article on this fine site that i should use a solvent sealer such as yacht varnish or an exterior varnish once my bonds are on there and dry.
any info would be greatly greatly appreciated! 
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Papier mache isn't the first thing I would think of for a public outdoor project. Wallpaper adhesive or white glue (etc) are way out of the ballpark for what you need. None of that will stand up to the abuse that the bench would have to take, and I suspect that it wouldn't even stick very well to the fiberglass under ideal conditions.
Since the bench is fiberglass, why not just decoupage the savings bonds (or whatever) to the fiberglass with the resin that is used with fiberglass? And even using that as an adhesive/top sealer (several coats), photocopies will fade very fast. For any kind of printed materials, I would go to a topnotch professional printer (we're not talking that 19-yr-old counter clerk at Kinko's) and tell him/her what you are planning, and ask if there is ANY kind of ink that is fadeproof. The only one I can think that might be is true India ink.
For better advice on the bench itself, you might want to find people who make fiberglass boats.
Sue
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I've seen a resin lifecast that used newsprint in the gel coat. Very do-able, but it's the permanency of the ink you need to worry about as sue said. Suggest one way to solve this would be to make stencils of your bonds and print using exterior paint.
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thanks for the help everyone! i think im going to just paint them using an overhead projector, that way i can project the image onto the chair and just paint it that way. itll be a lot of work, but itll be fun since i love painting. however i havent done it in awhile....wish me luck!
bridget
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