In general, any can be used to color papier-mâché. Most Popular acrylic paint. It's easy to use. It is cheap and comes in a wide variety of colors. Dries quickly. Poster paints can be used, but they are not compatible with water-based varnish. The colors will be washed out. Can be used glossy paint or enamel. But it's important to remember that with any paint, the first thing you should do is seal (seal) your work. Regular emulsion is ideal. A couple of layers is enough.
Important tips.
1. Do not attempt to do anything with the papier-mâché product (remove it from the mold or paint it) until it is completely dry. Depending on the size, it dries at room temperature from 1 to 5 days. When drying items on a radiator, they may crack.
2. Regardless of the type of papier-mâché ready product Almost always needs to be primed. To prime a papier-mâché product, you can use putty on water based or latex-based - oil-based is not worth it.
3. Before priming the product, it should be leveled, carefully cutting off any irregularities with a file, sandpaper or sharp knife.
4. Apply in thin layers using a rubber spatula or flat brush, being sure to let it dry before applying another coat.
Making crafts from papier-mâché is not difficult, but it requires painstakingness, perseverance and diligence. But you will create wonderful works with your own hands and will not regret the time spent . Use the layer method or the mass method, or both. I hope you feel inspired to put your hands to paper mache. This is a wonderful hobby.
Mass of papier-mâché (many photos)
Tanyusha! The master class is wonderful! I will be making a lot of papier-mâché using your secrets! I just have this question for you. I’m now passionate about making eggs, I hope to learn how to decorate them so that I won’t be ashamed to show them to the world! The people in our country are friendly, but I want to look decent! So, I live in the middle of nowhere and we can’t have blanks (wooden) for painting. My daughter brought me eggs from Murmansk, one of all sizes, and I began to cover them with newspapers, followed by cutting them, gluing them in two parts, and sanding them. So, have you tried making eggs from a mass of papier-mâché? Is it possible to simply roll an egg from this mass and dry it (even if it takes a long time)? Or maybe you tried coating the workpieces with mass, and then cutting and gluing? After all, this method of obtaining eggs will take less time and effort! I really hope for your answer! Good luck to you in raising your little daughter!
Despite the obvious French sound, the craft of making products from papier-mâché came to us from China and became widespread in the East, where ceremonial masks were made from this material. And only in the 17th century did papier-mâché reach Europe, where they began to make dolls, carnival masks, Christmas tree decorations and various interior items from it.
The old book, crumbling into separate pages, from which we will study how to make papier-mâché, examines in great detail the classical technique of working with this material, offers various methods for making models for future products, considers methods of painting them, and much more. It will be interesting!
To make your first papier-mâché crafts, you first need to take care of materials and tools. Nowadays, three techniques for working with papier-mâché are common:
- classical, in which the product is formed by pasting the model with pieces of wet paper;
- making products from liquid paper pulp mixed with glue to form a dough;
- layer-by-layer gluing of the product under a cardboard press.
But, as you can see, in any technique basic material is paper. We will consider the classic method of making papier-mâché, and un-glued types of paper are best suited for it: newsprint, wrapping paper. These varieties absorb moisture best, stick together evenly, and adhere well to soil and dyes.
The classic method of making papier-mâché at home involves forming the product from small pieces of paper laid out in 5-7 layers in some shape. Sometimes, if the craft needs to be especially durable, the number of layers is increased to 10-12. These layers are laid out evenly and tightly to each other. To avoid mistakes and to avoid sticking more or less layers in one place than necessary, it is recommended to use paper of two different colors. If you use newspaper in your work, you can paint it: pour it into a basin hot water, dilute fabric dyes in it and dip an unfolded sheet of newspaper into the slightly cooled solution. Then, when both surfaces of the newspaper are evenly colored, the sheet is removed from the water and spread (or hung) to dry.
In addition to paper, you will need hard glue brushes, paint brushes, plasticine, plaster, clay, Vaseline, stacks for making molds and containers for preparing paste.
How to make papier-mâché paste
The best paste is made from potato starch, wheat or rye flour with the addition of good quality wood glue. Often such glue is sold in tiles - the more transparent and harder the tile, the better quality glue. A day before preparing the paste, the glue tile is wrapped in a piece of fabric, crushed into small pieces with a hammer and filled with a small amount of cold water.
The next day, when the glue swells, place it in a small saucepan, add a small amount of hot water and, stirring, heat over low heat. Do not bring the glue to a boil, otherwise it may lose its properties. The glue prepared in this way is added to the flour (starch) paste.
To make a paste for papier-mâché, add 3-4 tablespoons of starch to a liter of water, stirring, and cook the mixture over low heat. When bubbles begin to appear on the surface, add half a glass of liquid glue to the mass and mix everything thoroughly. Cook the paste over low heat for about half an hour, stirring constantly so that it does not burn. When the composition thickens, remove it from the heat and cool.
Christmas tree toy made of papier-mâché
To master making various papier-mâché crafts, it is recommended to start with making simple forms, and then, as you acquire practical skills, move on to more complex products.
Before you start making crafts, you need to take care of the shape, i.e. model of the product, which is made from plaster, plasticine, clay, and then pasted over with layers of paper. So to do as New Year's toys decorative Christmas tree cone, first make a model of it from ordinary paper. The paper sheet is crumpled so as to make it resemble a cone: the length of such a cone is usually 7-10 cm, the thickness at the widest point is 2.5-3 cm. To prevent the paper from unfolding and losing its shape, it is fastened with narrow paper strips, coated with glue.
From painted tear off a piece of paper measuring approximately 20 x 20 cm, lower it into a container of water, then crumple it in your hand and squeeze it out. The pressed sheet is carefully spread on the working surface of the table and one side is thoroughly coated with paste. This flap is then taken into left hand, and with the right hand they tear off small pieces (about 2 x 2 cm) and paste them over the prepared form.
Advice: Do not cut pieces of paper for pasting with scissors, because their smooth edges will form scars and will not stick well at the edges. Pieces of paper torn by hand form a smooth surface and fit tightly to adjacent layers.
Having glued a piece of paper to the cone model, smooth it out with your fingers, then glue a second, third, etc. next to it. pieces so that their edges slightly overlap each other. On curved areas, the pieces of paper should be slightly smaller than usual. It is very important to ensure that the paper does not form folds or wrinkles.
Having pasted a layer of colored paper over the entire surface of the model, they begin to paste it with a second layer, but for the work they use unpainted paper. Thus, lay out 5-6 layers, alternating colored layers with regular ones. After finishing, check the uniformity of the layers, trim them if necessary, after which the entire surface of the product is smeared with a thin layer of paste and left to dry. In the same way, you can make other Christmas tree decorations of simple shapes - apple, pear, New Year's ball, flashlight, etc.
When drying the product, you should avoid extreme heat, because... When drying quickly, layers of paper will warp, tear and lose shape. The best results are obtained by drying in the fresh air under the sun's rays or close to radiators, a working oven, etc. The most important thing is to ensure uniform drying of the papier-mâché craft.
Papier-mâché primer
When the product is dry, proceed to the priming stage. The primer is necessary for further coloring of the craft, better adhesion of the dyes to the surface of the product, and leveling out minor irregularities. You can use ready-made primer compositions available in modern hardware stores or prepare emulsion primer (gesso) with your own hands. It was this kind of soil that was most in demand among ancient craftsmen who made art objects from papier-mâché.
To prepare gesso, sift chalk and talc through a fine sieve, pour two cups of diluted wood glue, two tablespoons of drying oil and about 100 ml of oil varnish into another container. All liquid ingredients are mixed well and sifted talc and chalk are added in small portions. All ingredients are mixed until smooth and boil over low heat.
The primer is applied to the papier-mâché surface warm, in a thin, uniform layer. The soil should level and fill various uneven areas and smooth out sharp changes. When the gesso begins to harden, it is carefully smoothed with a finger dipped in warm water. After the soil has completely dried, the surface of the product is cleaned with fine-grained sandpaper, smoothing out various irregularities. This priming and cleaning is repeated 2-3 times until the entire product becomes perfectly even and smooth.
Painting papier-mâché products
Oil-based paints are best suited for painting finished primed and cleaned products, which not only give the craft a beautiful finished look, but also provide it with strength and protection from external influences. To give the painted surface a beautiful shine, add a little oil varnish to the paint. You can also varnish an already painted surface; A very interesting effect is obtained if bronze or silver powder is added to the varnish.
Paint is applied to the finished papier-mâché product using any in a convenient way: from a spray bottle, with a swab, with brushes, painting the surface in 2-3 layers. After applying each layer, the craft must dry so that drips, sagging and uneven distribution of the dye do not form.
Techniques for painting and painting finished products should be traditional: paint is applied to the primed surface with a brush, first in one direction, and then, when the entire surface is painted, the paint is shaded, i.e. apply a new layer with a brush across the original one. This is done several times until you get an even, beautiful layer of paint.
To paint a decorative papier-mâché cone, its entire surface is covered with a layer of light or golden ocher, to which you can add a little oil varnish. Then, after this layer has dried, the cone is covered with “gold paint” - the name given to bronze powder diluted in a solvent. You can also use aluminum powder or silver paint - such toys also look very attractive and elegant.
After each application of a layer of bronze, the cone is dried and then painted with oil paints. By mixing several shades on the palette, a soft reddish-brown color is obtained. With a simple pencil on Christmas tree toy outline the location of the scales, which are subsequently drawn with a thin brush dipped in paint.
In the upper part of the cone, two small holes are made with an awl, through which a decorative ribbon is threaded so that the toy can be hung on the Christmas tree.
Papier-mâché based on a plasticine model
It’s not always possible to make something out of crumpled paper. good model for further work in the papier-mâché technique: as you acquire skills, you want to learn how to make more complex products, the shape of which is difficult to replicate using a material such as paper. Therefore, in this case, plasticine can come to the rescue.
Let's look at the technique of working with plasticine using the example of making a New Year's toy from papier-mâché in the shape of a fish.
The plasticine is kneaded well and, somehow armed with a sample with a picture of a fish, the material is given the approximate shape of a fish’s body - for now without fins and a tail. Using stacks, the model is refined to the desired level of plausibility, after which the future fish is smeared with Vaseline. The entire surface of the plasticine blank should be covered with an even, uniform layer - in the future this will greatly facilitate the separation of the papier-mâché layer from the plasticine “blank”.
The workpiece, greased with Vaseline, begins to be pasted over with paper according to the same principle as when making a decorative cone: first, one side of the fish is pasted over with paper soaked in water, wrung out and torn into small pieces, then the other side.
Attention! Small pieces of paper coated with paste are placed on the model with the adhesive side out! The edges of adjacent pieces should slightly overlap one another.
First we lay out a layer of colored paper, then of plain paper, and so, alternating colors, glue 5-6 layers. The paper should fit tightly to the plasticine model - to do this, it is periodically smoothed with your fingers. After one side of the fish is glued, the craft is put away to dry in a warm but not hot place so that the paper does not warp or tear.
When all the layers of paper are dry, carefully correct various shortcomings and defects in the work, and then begin gluing the second side of the fish. This way we get two symmetrical sides of the toy. The fin and tail parts are cut out of cardboard, placed between two papier-mâché halves, and these parts are fixed with strips of paper coated with adhesive.
Both halves of the toy are coated at the joints with wood glue, after which the joints themselves are masked with narrow paper strips smeared with paste. After drying, the papier-mâché fish is primed, a base layer of ocher or bronze paint is applied, and then painted with paints, drawing scales, gills and all other details with a thin brush. A hole is made in the upper fin, precisely determining the center of gravity of the toy, and a loop is threaded through it so that the craft can be hung on a branch of the New Year tree.
Papier-mâché based on a clay model
Working with a clay model is almost identical to the technique of working with a plasticine model, with the exception, perhaps, of a few nuances:- dry clay is broken into small pieces, washed with water to remove debris and dirt, and covered with wet rags at night;
- when the clay stops sticking to your hands, this is an indicator that the material is ready for modeling;
- If the clay turns out to be too liquid, a day before work, roll it out in a thin layer and leave it overnight, without covering it with damp rags.
As in the previous examples, alternate colored and uncolored layers of paper, thoroughly dry the finished product, after which the tip of a sharp papier-mâché knife is cut into two or more parts - depending on the complexity of the figure - and removed from the “blank”.
The parts of the product are connected to each other, gluing them at the joints with small pieces of paper, after which the craft is dried, primed and painted. If you have to make a craft that is large in size or complex in shape, then when making a clay model it is recommended to use wire frames mounted on small boards. The frame must be covered very tightly with clay, otherwise when it dries it will crack and settle.
Papier-mâché using ready-made models
Not only homemade models, but also ready-made items can serve as a blank for papier-mâché crafts: plates, vases, cups, etc. For example. To make a beautiful decorative plate from papier-mâché, select a ready-made plate of the desired size, place it bottom up, grease the entire surface with Vaseline and begin working with paper pieces.
Pieces of newspaper are placed on the plate with the dry side, and the side greased with paste facing out, as when making papier-mâché fish. Having laid out 7-8 layers of paper alternating in color in this way, the product is dried.
To remove papier-mâché from the mold, insert the tip of a knife between the layer of paper and the plate in a convenient place and carefully draw it around the circumference. Then the center of the craft is determined, a circle is drawn along the edges with a compass and the uneven edge is cut off with scissors. The entire surface of the plate is primed, dried and painted in accordance with one’s own imagination and capabilities.
When painting papier-mâché products, it is recommended to adhere to traditional rules: first select an ornament, apply a background to the primed product desired color, after which the desired pattern is drawn onto the product with a thin pencil and painted with paints.
If the craft is painted in light colors, on which the trace of a pencil is clearly visible, then the contours of the pattern are applied by punctures with a needle or a thin awl: the design is copied onto tracing paper, applied to the product and the ornament is transferred along the contours with dot punctures. Then the surface of the paper is wiped with a swab dusted with chalk - through the punctures, the powder will accurately follow the contours of the pattern.
Painted items are left to dry, after which they are coated with varnish.
A large doll AM 390 arrived in a completely miserable condition. Lacerations on the papier-mâché shoulder joints, a crack in the shoulder, grooves around the neck, collapsed hip joint sockets. And everything is repainted, only the torso in the central part and part of the arms are alive. I didn’t fight the repainting, but the damage did not allow the doll to live.
The report on the restoration will not be entirely cheerful, since it did not turn out as great as we would like, but the necessary conclusions follow from this experience, what can be done and what needs to be improved.
I’ll just show you my hands, it was the hardest part. They're both like that. In addition, it is clear that numerous layers of paint are crumbling.
I don’t know what I would do without German wood glue, which is perfect for all these problems. UHU Holzleim(The Peredvizhniki store sells 250 g jars, white with a blue cap). It starts out white but dries clear. Upon contact with wood and cardboard, it penetrates into the structure, swells a little, but then shrinks to its normal volume. Sets and dries quickly. I coated all the cracks with it to prevent it from falling out.
Then you need a papier-mâché mixture. In our case, this is just “chewed” wet paper. You need to find paper of very poor quality; cheap newspapers or wrapping like the Soviet one, which is brown and breaks easily. We tear it into small pieces, put it in a bowl or jar, pour in so much water so that it is all absorbed into the paper, wait until it gets wet. Next, grind this muck into a paste, the more homogeneous the better. There shouldn't be any water, just mush! Anyone who has a hand blender - I envy you!! I had to scramble it with a fork :) Now a hand blender is one of my planned purchases.
But we must remember that the mixture is not stored for a long time, it will become moldy.
Mix this mixture with PVA glue and the UHU described above. You can add wood dust, but this is if you have a relative who is a carpenter with a grinder :) You can cut the required amount yourself, but it will take a long time and be tedious. Proportions: 1 part papier-mâché and 0.5-1 part glue.
We seal our holes from the inside with thin cardboard and UHU. We put our mixture on top from the heart. We wait a day.
Sand the dried mixture so that there are no strong irregularities. A round file is good for smoothing out the edges of a hole.
Next is the soil. My first experience was with the “For Restoration” primer from the Tair company, based on chalk and gelatin. It was recommended to color it with water-soluble paints, so I used gouache. And even though I mixed it with PVA, I was not pleased with the result - the surface became covered with cracks and was easy to pick out.
Therefore, this time I took Acrylic primer (the same “Tair”), tinted it with acrylic paints, but forgot to mix it with glue, which I remembered only after I smeared it on the surface. I left it as is. Now I wonder what would have changed if I had not forgotten about the glue.
Regarding tinting: if you plan to varnish, make the color that you want the result to be after drying, taking into account that the varnish of a certain color will pass over it. It's difficult, yes. When the soil dries, it will be almost white, don't be alarmed.
So, we are trying to spread this primer onto the surface with a spatula. After drying, it adheres perfectly to the dried layer of papier-mâché and the previous layer of primer, but easily peels off from the places where it lay on the varnish. Unfortunately, the elastic metal of the spatula excludes the possibility of bending it into an arc... Therefore, this process cannot be called anything other than “smearing” :)
What is on the left is the dried result, on the right is the leveled surface. We file down strong irregularities with a file, then with sandpaper from coarse to fine.
Here the first jamb is visible - layers of previous repairs have appeared under the sandpaper. Conclusion: it was necessary to clean it all down to the original primer from the very beginning.
We mix pure transparent shellac and not the cleanest one - for yellowness. Immediately the soil becomes very dark, so you might be afraid of the final color, but don’t pay attention. After the varnish dries, it brightens and becomes exactly the right color! There are two layers of varnish here.
Jambs:
A network of small cracks appeared, but these did not affect the strength of the structure. Is this because there was no glue in the soil or am I doing something else wrong?
The varnish enhanced the visibility of the previous layers of paint.
When it comes into contact with old varnish, it forms a very visible smudge border, and nothing can be done about it. Perhaps re-priming the part completely, but this is too problematic.
If you apply several layers of acrylic paint over the sanded primer (each layer must dry), then the first two jambs will not be visible under the paint, but the border of the varnish will remain. The solution is not to varnish at all, but in this case the paint should be sanded to a varnish shine.
Acrylic leaves grooves, but on the last layer, which is not completely dry, but not fresh either, they can be smoothed out with a damp finger or sponge. Then, after complete drying (24 hours!), carefully sand with fine and very fine sandpaper. If you guessed the color right, it will be nice.
I am dissatisfied with the result, although the minimum program has been completed. I will accept all practical recommendations with gratitude.
1. Take several egg trays.
2. Tear it into pieces. It’s good to remember your old grievances - and the paper crumbles faster and the grievances go away. We place all this “junk” in a deep bowl.
3. Pour boiling water over it so that all the paper is under water. Close and leave alone until the next day.
4. If the amount of paper is small, you don’t have to wait a day. While the water cools, the porous structure of the cardboard absorbs moisture. You can visit her in an hour. We tried it with our fingers, if it’s soft and moves well under our fingers, we can work.
Drain about half the water. Using your hands, then using a fork or mixer, achieve homogeneity of the mass. The longer you knead, the more homogeneous and softer the structure will be. But maybe we will be satisfied with a rougher, more authentic surface of a papier-mâché product. Then we reduce the mixing time. All about everything from 5 to 10 minutes.
After such operations, you end up with something completely ugly in the bowl. But we know that all the beauty is ahead! At this stage, do not forget to add a few spoons of PVA glue to the solution, otherwise it will not stick.
5. You can express excess water following the example of our grandmothers, who made cottage cheese. Take a colander and place it in the sink. Cover it with gauze. We pour our unsightly mass there. We tie the gauze in a knot. Place a press or something heavy that comes to hand on top.
6. When the water has stopped dripping, unpack our paper cheese and try it by touch. The mass should be obedient under your fingers and should hold its shape if you squeeze it with a pinch, like, for example, a bread crumb. She looks just like in the photo.
7. Now you can seal it tightly and store it in the refrigerator. But it’s better, of course, to get to work right away. Why was so much dirty work done?
8. Take an ordinary kitchen wooden cutting board. We wrap it in cling film or foil, or in any bag that was on hand. So that our frame, which will be formed and dried on the board, does not dry out forever.
10. Form the actual frame. To do this, you need to make a recess in the center for the photo or whatever will be in its place. Don't rush to take the chisels! Find any box that is the right shape and size. In this case it is a box with cotton swabs! Place it in the center of the future frame, and press it firmly, but carefully and evenly, a few millimeters. Don't take it out yet!
11. Now we cut off all excess along the outer edge with an ordinary sharp kitchen knife. Possibly under a ruler. We already have almost what we need. We remove the stamp box. We look, admire, and think about the decor.
12. The most enjoyable part of the work remains - the decor. It is convenient to do it using the same method of pressing and embossing. We take any laces and lay them out in spirals on the surface. Press in a few millimeters. We're filming. Press out short lines with a non-sharp knife.
13. Trim the edges again, but only if they have spread too much. The work is almost ready, it looks approximately the same as in the photo.
14. Leave to dry until ready. It is better at natural temperature and without drafts, so as not to warp.
15. About the next day, when the frame is completely dry, you can paint it. It is better to use gouache rather than acrylic, so that a film is not created on the surface and the surface texture is clearly visible. We tint liquid gouache in a separate jar - in our case, white, ocher and a drop of yellow to get the authentic color of sandstone. Use a wide flute to paint quickly. Dry it. We hide the completely dry papier-mâché frame with a matte finish acrylic varnish in one layer, which is quite enough. We use double-sided tape to glue a photograph of a loved one, or, in extreme cases, Hugh Jackman. The back is secured with super glue.
That's all! The first papier-mâché master class is over - the masterpiece is ready. If you make several frames in this style, they will create a complete composition. Isn’t it true, it’s still fast, simple and beautiful?!
» primer
PRIMER
In order to firmly bind the glued paper to the paint with which you will cover or paint the product, you need to apply primer to it. There are several types of primers for processing papier-mâché for coloring and painting: adhesive, oil, emulsion and others.
Glue is prepared from carpenter's chalk and chalk. This soil intensively absorbs drying oil from the dye. Therefore, on adhesive soil it often crumbles, wears off and becomes dirty.
Oil primer is prepared from drying oil and dry zinc white. Paint does not bond well with oil primer. When painting a product, the dye rolls off the surface in some places, and leaks in others. The layer on the ground is uneven and cracks after drying.
Emulsion primer is prepared from drying oil, wood glue and dry zinc white. Its qualities are much superior to adhesive and oil-based primers.
Papier-mâché surfaces are particularly well treated with gesso. This is a type of emulsion primer to which* talc is added. In addition to talc, gesso includes wood glue, drying oil, oil varnish, chalk or zinc white. Gesso elastically fills all the unevenness in the glued papier-mâché layer and gives the surface mirror shine. When coloring and painting the product, the paint is evenly absorbed into the gesso and binds tightly to it.
We'll tell you how gesso is prepared, which we recommend for papier-mâché products.
Unlike other emulsion primers, gesso is prepared much easier and faster. Sift the talc and chalk, thus removing grains of sand and large lumps. Pour two cups of diluted strong wood glue into a tin can (you can use canned food). Add two tablespoons of natural drying oil and a little less than half a glass of oil varnish. Stir everything. Then add talc, mixed half and half with chalk, into this composition in small portions. Stir the whole mass well: talc does not mix well with water and other liquids. Adding talc and chalk from time to time, bring the soil to a not very thick dough-like mass. Then boil the soil on an electric stove, stirring so that it does not burn.
The gesso is applied onto the papier-mâché with a slightly warm, thin, soft sandstone brush. A layer of gesso should evenly cover the model, comparing the convex areas and depressions. When the gesso applied to the product begins to harden, carefully smooth the surface of the soil with a finger dipped in warm water.
After priming, dry the product well. In the summer, gesso dries out in the air in one day. Near the fire, the drying process is much shorter. After drying, clean the surface of the gesso with fine-grained paper, smoothing out any unevenness in the primer.
Repeat priming and cleaning the product at least three times. When the primed papier-mâché surface is even and smooth, the product can be considered ready for painting.
Treat the soil with sandpaper over a jar of diluted mixture to collect gesso waste and use it later. The remaining soil should also not be thrown away: use it for subsequent work. In these cases, add hot water to the dried soil, stir it after a few hours and boil it on an electric stove. The soil will be ready for use again.
You can also use gesso to glue underwater parts of waterfowl from papier-mâché, followed by special dyes diluted in nitro varnish.
Now let's move on to painting the product.