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In an attempt to make a large ball from papier mache I have put the pulp into a Muslin cloth and shaped it into a ball. It is now hanging to dry (I think it's going to take forever). Because I need it to be a solid object with some weight I have done it like this.
My questions are:
1. Will it work and 2. Is there a better way?
Any help will be gratefully received
Rabbanski
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Rabbanski,
Hi!
I don't think your solid pulp ball is ever going to dry 
. My thoughts are to get maybe a beach ball or something similar and cover it with pulp or layer it with many layers of strips. After it is dry you could either cut it off the ball or deflated the ball and fix the hole or seam after filling with sand or pea gravel or something similar to add weight. Hope this helps.
Moni
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What glue did you use? If you used wallpaper paste it could take forever to dry (or at least a very long time!) If you used pva glue it will dry on the outside quite quickly but may never dry inside.
You could try poking a knitting needle into it to let the air get into the centre to speed up drying.
It is always a good idea to build up pulp gradually rather than in one great big lump. You could have mixed something like plaster with it to give it weight. How big is this ball? And I'm curious - why did you want to make a large papier mache ball? :shock:
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They're right, it will never dry.
If you could use a beach ball or one of those exercise balls, cover it with several layers of paper strips, six or eight layers at least, but leave a 6"/15cm circle free around the inflation nipple . Let it dry somewhat (at least on the outside) until you think it can support itself, then pull the plug on it and let it deflate. I wouldn't force the air out of it, at this point. Let it go down by itself gradually. As the ball deflates, air will get inside and start drying what it can reach. As the ball gets firmer, you can reach in and squeeze the air out by hand, and gradually pull it out through the hole. Then patch over the hole when it's completely dry.
Before you close the hole, you might think of something you could put in there to add a bit of weight, if that's what you want. But the PM itself probably wouldn't support a lot of weight, so keep that in mind.
If you do this, try to find a big, heavy bowl that you can set the ball in to work on. Beware that as you add the wet paper to the ball, the center of gravity will tend to shift, so try to add the paper evenly. (We won't go into how I know it will do this.... 
)
Sue
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