Thread: using paper mache clay on foam tombstones - does it work?

Tweet

I have a pink foam tombstone that I would like to add some details to using paper mache clay. Does anyone know if it will stick once dry, do I need to prep the surface of the foam?
thanks
DZ

I don't know, but I am subscribing to this thread to find out! I am sure somebody will know!

i don't know for sure ... but i think you need to glue down something that will stick to the mache, something like cardboard maybe. liquid nails the cardboard to the tombstone and when dry, mache to the cardboard?

just guessing, lol

amk

I don't know why it wouldn't stick. I use celluclay [the original gray stuff] and it sticks to all sorts of stuff--expecially if I don't want it to. You might want to sand the surface of the foam to rough it up so the paper mache clay sticks better. It also might depend on which clay you're using: anyone of a couple of commercial types or one of the many home made recipies. Stolloween has a recipie that might work well for you--I think this is his link http://www.stolloween.com/?page_id=209

Yeah, depends on the type. To be safe, I would seal the foam with drylok, do your paper mache, then drylok over that again.

depends on the paper mache recipe as well. I've found that the flour and water with a little bit of glue and starch has a hard time sticking to non porous surfaces like plastics, metal and XPS foam. When I paper mache a non porous surface I prep the surface with a light spray of Super 77 (78 will leave a more textured surface which works too) then use a 50/50 recipe of white elmers and water; I get good adhesion with that.

you can always try a couple different methods on some scrap foam and see what works too.

If you're just doing a small area, I would smear some epoxy on the spot that you want to apply the mâché to. Use a pin to poke the epoxy into the foam a bit so you have some physical bond as well as chemical. Make sure all the epoxy is covered by paint or clay by the time you're finished with the stone... epoxy is not UV resistant and will yellow and fail in direct sunlight.

thanks for all the suggestions, I'm using Stolloween's recipe for my clay. Sounds like a trial and error session is ahead. I hope to do some work tonight with clay on my pumpkins so Ill try the different suggestions above on some test foam and post the results.

Another suggestion: Wherever the clay is going to stick to the foam, start stabbing a handful of toothpicks into the foam with wood glue. Then stab the clay over the toothpicks. Acts as mini dowel plugs or mini Rebar in concrete construction. Or for more strength, use wooden kabob skewers. Or if you know anyone with spare copper electrical Romex cabling, strip it apart, and cut a bunch of copper wire pins.

I haven't had a chance to test the different suggestions yet, my scarecrow project has taken precedence at the moment. What I did do was create some small (palm size) mache clay faces I let them dry then just glued them to the foam board with foam board calk. Still have 19 days so Ill try to get back to this project.