Paper Mache Clay/Dough: How to DIY

Most of us have lots of old newspaper stacked at home and that made me thinking to recycle them. With this mission i had Google Search engine running over me....and finally found about Paper Mache also sometimes spelled as Papier Mache.

Well there are two kinds of paper mache

• Strips of newspapers are pasted over an object using a special glue (for this kind of craft) and we get the shape of the underlying object after it gets completely dried.
• Paper Mache dough/ clay.

In this post we will look at the second one
Paper Mache clay/dough is all about making a dough like consistency out of newspapers , which can be sculpted, moulded into different shapes and that can be air-dried.
Name anything and you can make it with paper mache, the possibilities are endless limited only by your creativity.

Materials You Need:

• Newspapers
• All purpose flour (Maida)
• Salt
• Water to soak in the newspapers

              Yeah that simple !!!

Procedure:

•  Get hold of some old newspapers lying in some corner of you home.
• Tear them into thin strips, don't cut using scissors. TIP: children would love to tear them all, so get help !!!
• Soak them in a bucket of water overnight. Alternatively you can boil the strips in water for an hour and let them soak in for sometime.
• Drain the water and Grind the soaked paper in a grinder. TIP: take little at a time to grind.
• Once all the pulp is ground, add Maida or all purpose flour slowly. Add salt to the mixture as you add the flour.
• Knead the mixture until you get a dough like consistency. Keep adding maida/water if necessary. It would take around half n hour of kneading and will look like the below image.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Paper mache dough

• Your Paper Mache clay is ready.. Get your creativity flowing...

Look at the Ganesha idol i made using paper mache clay !

Paper mache DIY Ganesha 

Lot more can be done with this clay, few i have attempted , still in drying stage :)

Paper mache wall clock base inspired from net

Paper Mache clay Masks inspired from net

Paper Mache coils square pot

The clock and masks are inspired from internet, the last one is made by making coils of paper mache clay and then placing one on another forming a square pot kind of. I had a long square box which i have used as a support while coiling around.
Thanks for reading the post, do let me know your opinion in the comments section.
                                       Happy Paper claying to all of you...