I found a TV antenna a few months ago and instantly thought of a black sculpted hat/helmet with the antenna coming out of the top (extending arms and all) with the plug piece plugged into the side/back. Well I finally made it!
For whatever reason I have never done paper mache before, I know CRAZY! Even in school we never even played with paper mache, I've at least seen someone do paper mache before, does that count? Didn't think so, so I took to the web researching what people find best for paper mache. Once I found some recipes I decided to give it a go. I'm thinking of making a regular post of "What To Do With Your Paper Mache Hat(s)" whenever I make something new with a paper mache hat, what do you think?
This is EASY! But it can easily get messy, very very very messy!
Materials:
-Paper (newspaper, used paper, any kind of paper… as long as it's not super thick. Construction paper would even work!)
-White glue (I used simple and classic Elmer's),
-Flour,
-Water,
-Salt,
-and something to use as a mold for your hat you can use a balloon blown up to the genera size of your head, a bowl, anything you want really!
I decided I wanted to do multiple layers of different recipes to play with them and see which I like most, and create a SUPER strong hat (literally ROCK solid!). We have a wavy vintage bowl that usually sits on our kitchen table with apples, oranges, anything really sitting in it at different times. I was playing around with it and put it on me head… and it fit, and I LOVED that way it looked. Strange, fun, and perfectly Zane! So I decided to use it as the mold for my hat. This is all up to you and how you want your hat to look like. I then covered it in plastic wrap so the hat comes off easily and keeps the bowl itself relatively clean.
Here is the first recipe I used:
The No-Cook Flour Recipe
Super simple, 1 part flour, 1 part water. Simple right? I simply mixed 1 cup of flour, with 1 cup of water (and a dash of salt to kill any possibility of mold). Mix together and add more water in small amounts until it is at the consistency you think it will work best. You want it to be pretty thin, almost the consistency of slightly thinned glue. (if that makes any sense to you…)
I used this to build up the first/base layer of my hat. Before you even create your mix you want to rip your paper into strips. You want to rip rather than cut because the torn edge create a smoother finish. When I ripped my paper I ripped it into random sized strips and shapes to cover the whole bowl. Then more uniform strips for the next layers.
Continue building up your layers to create a SUPER strong hat. I needed to sculpt/build up certain areas for the pieces to "plug" or "snap" in to my hat. I first sketched on the general size and shape in the area I wanted builded up. Rip pieces of paper, dip in the mixture and crumple up. Place where you want to build up and gradually do so, adding pieces of crumpled up strips to the hat where you want it until you reach you wanted size and shape.
I then put strips across the built up pieces to kind of seal them into the hat and hold them down. After it dried I applied one last layer of paper to seal it all in and give a smooth-ish finish. I wanted a rough "sculpted" look so all of this worked just fine. I left imperfections on mine to add to the look. You can easily continue smoothing it all out until it is just that, smooth!
I let it all dry over night until it was rock solid and HARD! It really came out strong, which is PERFECT! I then went ahead and kind of carved out the holes I needed for my hat (to "plug" in the pieces).
I then fit the pieces in, and once it was all good and everything fit well I took it out to spray paint. I used a black "satin" finish spray paint, mainly because that's what I had but also because it is a lovely finish. After a few coats on both the inside and out for full coverage (drying in between each coat), it came out with a smooth, full, and slightly shiny finish. Once it was fully dry I put the pieces together and… wore!
I have some more post featuring what to do with paper-pulp, or paper mache hats so look forward to that, I know I am.
Until then I'm back off to my Rhinestoned Dreams,
Zane Walker
No comments:
Post a Comment