Thread: making Paper mache hard?

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It's been awhile since I last posted, but I have been trying to get a few props done for this season. I have been doing more and more paper mache and I saw a YouTube video on how to make "Dragon Skin" which you coat a prop with and in makes it really hard. The problem is that the recipe is for a huge amount that would end up going to waste before I could use it all. Does anyone know a smaller recipe for this stuff or maybe another way to make paper mache really hard (or even fairly hard) without adding 20 layers of strip mache? Thanks

Hi Pennywise. So you mostly are after a way of getting the form without the thickness, right? I created a pumpkin for my scarecrow that began with a plaster cloth wrap (I forget the official name, but it's essentially plaster and cheesecloth like what casts for setting broken limbs are made from, and can be found at Michaels, etc.) over a beach ball. It was only about 1/8 inch thick, but very rigid and hard. Over this I added paper mache, being less expensive, to build up the details I wanted. It's water activated, so still would need a thorough water proofing when you're done.

If you were wanting more of a coating for paper mache items you've already made, try talking with someone in the paint department at Home Depot or Lowes.

This is a neat product I have used; http://www.industrialpolymers.com/styrospray.html Will give you a hard finish and waterproof as well. They sell a 2 quart sample kit for about $32. It will take several coats but it cures fast and is paintable.

water and glue. 50:50 ratio with a little bleach to demote the growth of mold. just go 1 coat at a time and it will drys really hard

-BYH

I used celluclay after papier mache on my props and it is hard as a rock. I made these horns on the Spewing corpse fogger and it fell off a table about 3 feet onto a concrete floor and bounced right on the horns ....was almost like watching it get destroyed in slow motion... i would have fell to my knees and cried...) BUT they didnt even get a chip or crack in them! I was shocked.

I use durham's water putty... I mix the powder with my favorite wood glue instead of water and it works beautifully.

I just use watered down waterproof pva glue, I have a pumpkin head I made a couple of years back and it's still rock hard, I've dropped it a few times and no damage occured. If it's a piece that can fit in an oven I give mine a bake to harden it, before I paint and do the pva finish.

Thanks everyone. I will try some of these. To see the YouTube video I was talking about, look for the username darkjonty2.

I am glad you started this post, wondering the same thing. I am about to change directions on my scarecrow and paper mache the body to get the shape I truly wanted and I need it hard as well. Good info here. Question on those who use the celluclay, do you do a layer of paper mache first, or can you just use that on your prop straight out?

Try 2.4cups of flour with 8oz water and 6 oz pva (white)glue, that'll give you about 1/5 of his recipe.