I was just thinking about posting this very thing. But because I have happened across the best recipe I have ever used. I have tried water and white glue and water and flour and didn't care for either result. So my recipe is based on none other than Stolloween's recipe. His posted recipe is not too specific but I just went through about 4 or 5 batches this last weekend and I nailed it down pretty well. Here it is.
6 cups flour (from the Dollar store)
1 cup Elmer's White Glue ($15 at Staples, shop around)
1 cup Stay-Flo liquid starch (Lucky's was the only place that I found it)
3 capfuls of liquid bleach (dollar store)
4-5 Cups of Warm TapWater (4 = thick & 5 = thin)
Mix it well using a drill and plastic paddle used for mixing paint. That's it, it works incredibly well. Again, props to Stolloween for sharing it with the world, I just refined the amounts for myself. But the other cool thing is the Paper Mache Clay recipe that he posted as well. Here is my take on it.
The completed recipe for paste as outlined above.
1 Cup of Drywall Mud, (Wet Topping Coat type).
1 Roll of Toilet Paper (Costco) or 8-10 cups of Cellulose Insulation (Home Depot)
Step One: Prepare the paste recipe as above and pour into a 5-gallon bucket.
Step Two: Add the Drywall Mud and mix it in well with the drill/paddle.
Step Three: For a coarse clay mixture, just add in the cellulose and mix it in until you reach the desired consistency.
Step Three (alternative): Unroll a complete roll of toilet paper into a bucket or bowl. Fill the container with warm water until completely saturated, you may have to flip the bundle over to make sure.
Step Four (alternative): Squeeze the water out of the paper and shred it as you add it into the mix. The more water you leave in the paper pulp the creamier it will be. If you want to have a dryer sculptable clay mix then prepare your paste with about four cups of water and squeeze as much of the water out of the paper as you can.
Step Five (alternative): Combine the wet, shredded paper well into the mixture with the drill/paddle. This step may take up to three minutes or more. The longer you mix it, the more viscous and creamier it will get. If it is still a bit too thin you can try adding a two foot long strip or so of dry toilet paper into the mix. This clay will air dry to a very hard surface that is sandable and paintable in a day or less.
Shelf life: Approximately 5 days, perhaps longer if refrigerated.
The tp or creamier version is great for sculpting fine details and creating a smoother finish. I hope that this helps.
