Thread: Large Paper Mache Sphinx

Tweet

I am planning a giant sphinx on the side of my house this year to go along with the Egyptian theme.

I have done some large structures in the past, so I am not afraid of the scale. The body and legs will be easily done with plywood, 2x4s and foam.

I am planing on doing the head using plywood sections cut out (these are shown to the left of the sphinx in the picture) stacking them and using blocks to set then 8-12" apart. Then I was going to cover the whole thing in chicken wire.

My thought was to then cover the chicken wire with newspaper and spay the newspaper with watered down Elmers glue, doing several layers, Then paint and get all my friends over to hoist it up.

I only plan on it lasting this one season.

Has anybody ever done anything like this before, and can caution me on any pitfalls or problems I may encounter?

That's going to be one large kitty!

The big problem I see is the weather. If you have any rain at all it could be damaged in a matter of hours.

Last year I did roots for my scarecrow and even though I coated it nice and heavy with spar varnish it lost it's shaped after one evening of rain.

I've heard suggestions of using Dryloc. It's a concrete sealer. I haven't tried it myself though.

Keep us posted on your project.

Wow, this is an ambitious project... especially since it's only for one year! I was thinking exactly along the lines with Jackie (like minds think alike). I don't know the first thing about paper mache, but I would think that paper and lots of water could be a problem. Would suck (pardon my English) to build a great structure, PM it, and then get a soaking rain a day or two before Halloween to ruin it all. The structure would still be in tact, but I'd think a soaking rain would do significant damage. Now, I don't know what October weather is like in CO, but it's not like you're in AZ or NV. I would think that there was a chance of rain. Rain is pretty abundant in my area in October. If water doesn't ruin PM, then you can ignore everything I just typed with the exception of the first sentence.

I only need it to make it through the month of October -

I was thinking about using drylock, but it is a bit pricey. The exterior mis-tint paint is $3 a gallon at my local Lowe's. I usually just put on 4 or 5 coats of that and things tend to stand up pretty good to the weather here. We don't really get the massive rain storms other parts of the county get.

I was hoping the chicken wire and wood framing would help it to hold its shape in the weather, and we usually get snow (sometimes quite a bit of snow) in October. So I intend to make the structure strong, the paper mache would just be a smooth coating for show.

My question is...Do you plan on building this indoors and then taking it out to set it up, or are you going to build it on the spot. That could be a potential problem with weather too. If you could store it inside until your ready to display it, but something that big will definately need some support for the weight alone. Even treated paper mache could distort in the weather over a few days...

If you build it outside, the mache will have to have time to dry and any inclimate weather will set you back.

very ambitious, and if you do get there, I'm sure we'd all like to see the finished results

I am going to build it in my garage, I want to start on it late August or early September. I will start on the legs pretty quick here, I am doing some mummy wrapped bluckeys that roll on to their sides in the legs as you walk in.

If I get really ambitious I may go ahead and build the head, and then put it outside under a tarp. But I think I want to wait until it is closer to October to mache it.

My wife has been making pinatas and other paper mache projects for years. She suggests using full-strength liquid starch instead of elmer's glue and water. It would also be better to apply the starch to the newspaper before it goes onto the chicken wire (as opposed to spraying.) The first layer of newspaper will have to be "anchored" to the chicken wire by wrapping the paper through the chicken wire and then back on itself, because it won't just stick to the chicken wire. Subsequent layers will stick to each other.

We live in Colorado too (Falcon, near Colorado Springs), and we know that the weather can get pretty dicey in October (we had 60 mile per hour winds last year that played havoc with our plywood maze.) You might want to consider a design that will allow you to remove the head fairly quickly for storage in your garage when the weather goes south.

If you do go with this project, let me know. We would love to come up and see it.

We really need to get a Colorado Haunters group going. Let me know if you are interested.

I have been wanting to get a Colorado group together.

Hi,
Count me in, Im in Aurora. Looks like a pretty ambitious project. Where do you live? Im near Iliff and Buckley.
Sam