Hi,

I know what you mean about buying in stuff.  It is possible to acheive a super smooth finish without resorting to expensive craft products.   Gesso is fantastic but can be expensive, it is essentially Rabbit skin size and ground chalk / bought gesso powder.  It dries to a hard finish and can be sanded down and wire woolled to give you a porcelain like surface.

I have found that the size and powder is very expensive so I did some experimenting.  The most successful combination that I came up with is 1 part water, 1 part pva beaten together with an egg whisk.  Then using a teaspoon add in plaster of paris, whisking as you go.  You need to get to a thick double cream consistency which can then be applied with a paint brush.  It is very messy, you need to work very quickly as the hardener in Plaster of Paris makes the mixture unworkable within 15 minutes. (only make up small amounts each time).  Once applied I leave it to cure for 24 hours and then start sanding down.  I use small files to get rid of ridges and then sand paper for smoothing, wire wool polishes up the final grooves.  Once this is painted and varnished it has a very nice finish and is very good for filling in holes and bringing regularity to the surface. 

Hardware stores usually sell bags of Plaster of Paris in 5 kg bags fairly cheaply, I am still only half way down mine and I have also used a lot to make a casting mould.

Alternatively the recipe David gave me for toilet paper pulp is quite good.

Tear up the toilet paper and soak in water (I usually stick in my hand held blender and wizz up to a pulpy soupy mess).  Squeeze out as much water as you can and then add wallpaper paste (and PVA if you want) and a small amount of ground chalk. Get the resulting pulp to the consistency you want (I like mine like a wet clay)  Once dry this is fine enough to sand down, to get a more porcelain finish to this I usually add one or two layers of tissue paper to the surface using a fair amount of paste to smooth is out.

Both these are cheap-ish ways of getting to a smooth surface.
Hope that helps,
Charlotte

Don't bother with Celluclay for the effect you want, as it's rather lumpy.

The problem with flour/water is that it will absorb moisture from the air. You will have to seal it, and seal it well. But make sure it's very dry before you do.

Sue

Guess Im the only Culluclay advocate! I love it, it works great. If you use the powder to water recipe they provide, yes it is lumpy and stupid. I just put it in a bowl and hit it with a whisk for a minute to work out all the lumps while its dry, then add water a little at a time and it works out fine. I suppose 5 bucks a pound is expensive, but it goes a long way.
Celluclay rocks! It beats making your own pulp, Im way too impatient for that, if an idea hits me I pretty much have to start it then or Ill forget it, so this is a product for the instant gratification driven artist.

Hi Lengo, I have been searching the old forums to find out an easy way to smooth paper pulp, and came across this post with your flour and water solution.  I am interested to know how it has held up?  I too thought it may absorb moisture or go mouldy and was wondering if it made the piece heavy?  I am using newspaper pulp at the moment, which is very lumpy.  Any update would be great.  I will also try Charlotte's plaster mix, but I am again a bit worried that it might add too much weight to the piece.  Has anyone tried wood filler or anything like that?  Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks Moni, I am trying that now and yes it does smooth it a bit.  I think I will save the newspaper mache for the core of the works and use a finer mache for the outside.  I am still testing other options though.

Thanks Sue, it is amazing that triangles are better than squares.  What a time saver this forum is.  Thanks to all

It may be that it's too thick, so try adding some water, just a little at a time.  Generally speaking, PVA glue is diluted 50/50 with water for most PM use. Full-strength is best for adding parts to parts (attaching wings, feet, etc).

I've never added chalk to toilet paper pulp. Is there a specific reason that you've done so?  I am of the firm belief that you start any new method using the most basic of the materials. Then, when you hit a problem, you ask yourself if a specific additive would improve it. Add a small amount and then increase it gradually to see at what point the additive solves (or doesn't solve) the problem.

I find any type of pulp fairly lumpy.  It's the nature of paper fibers. Even a small amount of heavily diluted pulp (a spoonful in two cups/.5 l water) will tend to clump together, like drowning swimmers hanging onto each other).

Pressing the pulp firmly will help eliminate the water and smooth the pulp. Ah, but the gluey pulp sticks to everything, you say. You press it down and it lifts off.

One handy thing to have around is kitchen parchment paper (U.S.).  It is usually found at places that have cake decorating supplies (even WalMart has it in their craft/cake dec section). It is a paper that has been embedded with something that is highly water-resistant, maybe silicone or something. You can take a piece of this stuff and put it in a glass of water for three days, shake it off, and it's still not wet.  Tear off a piece of it and use it to press your pulp.

As David pointed out in another thread, let your project partially dry, then burnish it with the back of a metal spoon to smooth it.

If anyone else has tips on this common problem, please chime in.

Sue

You sand it the way you think would be best for the thickness of the PM, how large the flat areas are, and by estimating the damage you could do if you used a sander.

I tend to do it mostly by hand, with a wooden block under the sandpaper (or attached to a regular sanding block -- I have a couple, but can never find them), or with sandpaper wrapped around a dowel or pencil, for inside curves.

You can use an electric sander or Dremel Mototool, but do it carefully. Use a fairly fine grit on a regular sander. And use a light touch.

People use all kinds of additives in PM. Some want to fill in tiny cracks and dents, so they add chalk to the glue, sometimes with the pulp, sometimes as a surfacing agent. Other people have used sawdust, plaster, water-based dry clay powder, linseed oil, oil of cloves, Hydrostone, ground oatmeal, methyl cellulose, gum arabic, dry tempera, acrylic paint, latex paint, watercolor paint, bleach, alum, cornstarch, glitter, pasta, dog food, and probably stuff that I've never heard of.

Some people go hog-wild with additives, but it makes more sense to me to know WHY you're using it.

Sue

Nice idea on the garden stakes, David!  Did you seal them with marine varnish or something else? 

Sue

Hi David and Sue, When you mention burnishing (above) it reminds me that when you burnish clay with a spoon, plastic bag or whatever it pushes the clay particles together and the burnished work will not take a glaze after that, it just runs off as your burnished papier pulp has with water.  Sounds unbelievable with paper but it is obviously a very effective way to waterproof pm. Just thought I'd throw this in.
Lesley

Last edited by burrumgirl (2008-11-09 23:53:10)

HI Everyone, Boy have I been working and struggling. I love the paper pulp, but everyone is right about the bumps.  I started by trying to sand.....and of course you all know how that went.  I got some good advise from David and Sue and I keep trying everything.  I am becoming so frustrated that my mind said....the heck with it leave the surface lumpy.  Well, I have accepted that for some sculpture, but for the ones with faces, I would love to have it at least semi smooth. By accident I had a fallen deriere on one of my Japanese women and added flour water paste to her, then I noticed that the flour water paste dried so much smoother than the pulp.  What I was wondering is how does it hold up.....I'm going to try it on an arm that didn't work on another project and see what happens.  I have mixed spackle with acrylic paint....doesn't do much. Tried Gesso with chalk....didn't work to great either....even bought a thick Gesso paste....but that has to dry for so long. Well, I am glad to see other PM'ers are trying to solve the smooth pulp idea.  If anyone has more advice....I'd love to here it.  Oh, PS>  my mermaid tail fell apart....so back to work again.
Thanks Jacquie

All this talk of gesso etc. . . . .

Personally I wouldn't use this in papier mache (being a bit of a purist), but by chance I found a really strong, smooth filler.

I had some spare slightly diluted PVA and needed to make up some wall filler.  I used that with some Polyfilla (US spackling I think) and it has proved to be incredibly strong, binding well and with no observable shrinkage.
DavidO