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...

DIY Eco-friendly Ganesha

In India its a tradition  that before puja (worship) of any god ,lord Ganesha is to be worshipped. So here i am starting my first blog post traditionally with a DIY Eco friendly Ganesha. Since last 7 years i have been making Ganesha's using different materials at home.And  i am going to show one eco friendly Ganesha that i made by recycling newspapers.

Paper Mache Ganesha.

To know how to make the paper mache dough please visit this link. once u get a dough like consistency shown in the image below, divide the dough into 3 parts, one big ball for body, another small ball for head, and the remaining keep aside for hands legs trunk ears and mukut.

paper mache dough

Use your creativity in shaping the dough, slowly start making eyes and start adding legs, hands,ears and trunk.

Once you finish adding all the parts, let it air dry under the sun for about 3 to 5 days depending upon the size and volume of the Ganesha idol.
Once completely dry, use natural colors or water soluble acrylic paints. I hav used acrylics to paint my Ganesha. Before painting i have painted a later of acrylic gesso (or texture white paint) on the dried idol. This will make a good base to add colors easily. Now look at my completed colorful Ganesha. I have also used a coat of acrylic gloss medium while painting a top coat, that gives a glossy look to Ganesha.

And this is the traditional pandal for Ganesha at home with banana tree leaves.

Here in South India we aso make a turmeric Ganesha and place it in front of the main idol and do puja to it. Here are few of them i have done. Add a little chapathi Atta or any all purpose flour to give the dough a clay like consistency. But remember this is an instant way to make ganesha and no need for drying, it will give some bad smell in few days because of the presence of flour. Anyway the turmeric ganesha would be to do puja and later we can do visarjan in a bucket water.

If making paper mache is time consuming for you, or if you are running out of time , you can buy air dry clay or bake clay from market. Most of the craft shops stock the clay or one can buy clay in children's toys store. One can get many colors so no need to color again after moulding the clay. Please follow the baking instructions in case of a oven bake clay.

One such Ganesha i made with a store bought clay.

The method is same, one can try with any material, the main parts are to be made and attached together , its as easy as you read above. Please give your valuable comments and suggestions and do make eco Ganesha on every Ganesh Chaturthi. Go Green.....
                                       Jai Ganesha.