Few tips from my diary on the pepar mache:tutorial

hi

Dear All

The readers who has been following my posts on PM ( paper mache ) research( I should really call it casual exploration),knows that I have been writing about the Kashmiri pm crafts and few homemade recipes to achieve that porcelain smooth look...my exploration still continues...

here in this post I want to share some of the tips/Points ( that I have found during the exploration) if you want to get it "right " from the beginning...

I dont know if these tips will be helpful or not in your case ,but I will advice you to explore more..

please go trough my other posts ,if you find these tips "confusing",that will help you to co-relate


sanding must be done after the layer dries completely,and each layer should be sanded smoothly,then only next layer can be applied smoothly.this should be our process beause we dont have factory quality equipments at home,I am yet to try "file" that are used to smooth out metals ...sanding should be done in 3 stages ,gradually moving from bigger grain to finer grain..

to protect the surface craftsmen of Kashmir often use TISSU or butter paper ,as the final layer,in my experience ,it can give a good surface ,if it can be sanded again..

many artists boils toilet paper to the point ,and keep soaked a day or two before using,these extreme treatement often make the paper so creamy so that it could be squeezed through a strainer,people who don't have hand blender or a mixer ,can use this method,I am yet to do it.

I have read in Kashmir Pm craft ,cloth and saw dust are used,to make to bonding good,we can easily do it in our home.many foreign sites have used "wood filler" for their projects,I never found such thing in our local market ,actually we fill wood in a old-school manner,hence I had to use saw dust -it works

always use a pallet knife or a blunt knife-like object to smooth the clay out when its wet-the smoother it is from the beginning --you have less headache afterwards-like sanding.sanding can be a  very boring process,unless you use a electric sander,that's a luxury for me!

I had mentioned in my other posts that ,saresh -a laquare ,rubbery glue they use to join the cut -we can use our glue gun-it works

I used acrylic distemper in one of my project as final coat,Its thicker than the gesso,thinner than the putty,and its too runny,--now use your best judgement

Kashmir"s craftsmen,use a burnt brick or pumice stone,to sand the surface smooth-the pumice stone that I had ,was bought from a beauty supply store ,I must tell,it got sanded mode than it actullly sanded LOL!! i know pumice are soft stone ,but...anyway am not done with it ,one bad experience should not discourage me.


Remember I am a beginner,I may have made mistakes,hence your advice solicited.

after this experiment I have formulated another pm clay,I will talk about it some other time..

till then bye

Home Made Paper Mache Clays :my findings: tutorial

Dear all
 I hope you all have gone through my earlier post on Original Master recipe of paper mache clay ...this is the continuation of the last post ....

lets begin

I wanted to find out more about pm ,hence these first hand experiments were done.

My aim is to find a perfect recipe of pm clay which ensures a porcelain –like smoothness.

As a hobbyist I don’t have that infrastructure  to contest with the Kashmiri Craftsmen,still the hunger of that perfect smoothness is driving me …I know it would be impossible for me to follow the exact step by step process of the pm crafts of Kashmir, hence I have designed my experiments in a way so that it can be done in home environment  with the help of some simple easily available  shop-bought tools,I hope it will work for me ..lets c

After reading about my experiments ,you are welcome to form your own conclusions,I will be producing some datas here and ofcourse my opinion on that..if you have any questions,please feel free to communicate through the comment section.

WEATHER CONDITION

When I am doing these experiments its winter time,it takes longer than usual to dry up…my preference is with warm weather..

CONTESTANTS

1.       PM clays ------credit goes to Jonni Good

2.       Saw dust clay-------I know its not related to pm but ,I gave it a try,credit goes to a Russian blog , I cant pronounce the name.LOL

3.       Pm+ saw dust--------credit goes to me

4.       Pm+ china clay ( ceramic powder) credit goes to Jonni

5.       Pm+ whiting powder ----- credit goes to me

6.       Pm+chalk powder----I have read that few people use it for extra smooth ness

Here note that ,I will be talking about the exact recipe with ratio in other posts

I must tell you there can be hundreds of combinations ,recipes –use your imagination,it may happen that all these 6 formulas fail,you may even get to discover a completely different recipe …lets explore

since news papers will be the main "base" material,I applied 6 of these one by one on  a news paper.

I hope you can see all the clays after its spread on the news paper.

NEXT MORNING

Pm clay was still wet.for surface smoothness I will give **( 2 stars) out of *****(5 stars)
saw dust clay was also wet,surface smoothness: *
saw dust + pm was not so wet ,surface smoothness:**
pm + chalk was not so wet( damp), for surface smoothness :***
Pm + china clay was dry,smoothness:****
pm+whiting powder was dry ,for smoothness:****

here you may note that ,My aim is to get it smooth from the first stage,no visible bumps and uneven -ness is allowed to happen ,so that we don't have to work hard to make it porcelain -smooth.....that's was the idea I adapted from the beginning-
ok,here I want to add that ,I made news print pm clay earlier for a small project.I was not very happy with the clay after it dried up-it was all bumpy..hence I opted for this idea...some sites even says that news prints contains lead,hence it may not be kid-friendly  /environment friendly..

in the evening I tries to sand ( bigger grains) manly those two samples which dried up in the morning,it could be sanded(with out gesso) easily and surface smoothness was satisfactory ...
NEXT MORNING
according to the experts,coating gesso and sanding in between the application, gives to real smoothness..but here I wanted to sand without gesso..

before you sand ,make sure it was completely dry

Pm was smooth enough after sanding ,afterall  it was  the traditional formula, coverage :***
saw dust was not that smooth ( it was predicted) ,coverage:***
pm+ saw dust: quite smooth,coverage :***
pm+chalk clay :smooth ok,coverage:***
pm+china clay :smooth,coverage :****
pm+Whiting powder:smooth ,coverage :****


note that ,coverage is examined when applied in thin layers

shrinkage rate

Pm ****
saw dust****
pm+ saw dust:*** 
pm+chalk clay :****
pm+china clay :**
pm+Whiting powder:**
lower number of stars you see,means they have shrink-ed less

now it was a time to choose  2 winners
pm+saw dust
pm+whiting powder


pm+saw dust project made me happy,it was quite smooth,after 2 coats of gesso and sanding the result was good..

here

next projects was a globe

oops!!

happy ...

but search continues

 I will be sharing some tips on my next post...

keep creating!!

pepar mache apple 2

hi

this is my 2nd attempt of making another PM  ( red )apple

 i am always obsessed with the smoothness when working with paper mache..i am happy with this result...i had mixed little bit of saw-dust in to the regular paper mache.

enjoy