How to paper mache

Paper mach had been our family’s bread and butter when my mother was still alive. She used to hold seminars and talks regarding paper Mache. There were many products that can be made out of paper. The most common nowadays are the paper Mache boxes. I remember when I was in college a friend of mine Ms. Gerlie P. used to have a research regarding paper Mache. Since she took up a course of industrial engineering at Polytechnic University of the Philippines, she had discovered ways to improve the strength as well as add color to the paper Mache.

What I will teaching you is how to create a colored paper Mache board which we will be using to create a box.

Usually the colors were hand pained but in this case the board itself is hand crafted and the colors are there.

1. First let's do the basic part creating the paper pulp.

Paper pulp is the peeled and soaked old news paper in a water basin. All you have to do is to tear off the old news paper in a small piece and soaked it in a basin filled with water. Make sure that the paper was well grinded as it was soaked into the water.

2. Getting the paper pulp

We need a paste to bind the grinded news paper, after being soaked we have to squeeze the papers so that we could extract the pulp; by these means what we are getting is the pulp itself.

3. Prepare the paste for paper Mache.

After the extraction, we have to set aside the paper pulp and let it drain. While doing so we have to create a paste that will act as a binding agent for our paper board. Make sure that you cooked it well to get the proper consistency of the paste to be used. In a bowl mix 3 cups of cornstarch 2 cups of water then mix it well. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and mix it well too, then set aside. In a casserole boil 2 cups of water; if the water is already boiling pour the mixture of water, cornstarch and salt into the boiling water. You will notice it will develop into a thick like gravy sauce. The thicker the mixture the strong it will bind.

4. Mix the pulp with color dye

Let the paste cool for a minute and then mix the drained pulp with your favorite color dye. Make 3 sets of color, it might be red, green and yellow. Divide the pulp into 3 parts for each color. Then mix them well so that the color will absorb into the pulp.

Then set aside.

5. Creating the board sheet.

In this process you will be needing a frame mold ; a good frame moldings  for this are the silk screen frame (one that is used in silk screening). Place the mixture there and let it dry.

Usually this will take days for the paper to be fully dried. Then you can use these ray materials as a base for your paper Mache box project.