Armour That Grows On Trees –
Step 2
Pass The Cheesecloth Please
Here we go – I’m really giving away my trade secrets now. Because your average papier mache book won’t mention that one way to make your project super-strong is to add cloth to it. Because the cloth is woven it won’t tear as easily as paper will. It’s also (and this is important) more water-resistant. If you went straight from building your base in step 1 to adding your paper pulp in step 3 you could quickly find yourself in trouble. The water in the paper pulp would soften the Bristol board, leaving the whole thing in danger of collapsing under the weight of the pulp. A cloth layer in between prevents this however.
I like to use cheesecloth for this middle layer because it is cheap (you can buy it in 3 yd packages at the dollar store) and light enough that it doesn’t collapse the armour (too much), even when it is soaking wet with glue.
Materials:
Now
The Messy Bit (And I Mean Extremely Messy)
1)
Take those drop cloths and
cover your work area well. The glue will drip and dribble everywhere no matter how careful you are (so make sure you are
wearing old clothes as well).
2)
Open a package of cheesecloth.
It will most likely be folded and you’ll notice that if you pull at it, the
cheesecloth is actually comprised of several layers (sort of like multi-ply Kleenex
or toilet paper). With your scissors cut a number of different lengths (small,
medium and large). You’ll want most of your strips to be ‘4-ply’ (i.e. at least
four layers the way they come out of the package). You’ll want a couple,
thinner, 2 ply pieces too, for getting into fiddly areas. It actually helps to
hold pieces up to the armour as you cut them allowing the cheesecloth to
overlap the edges of the armour a little. Place all the strips you cut in
separate piles (i.e. all the strips for a chest plate would go in one pile, all
the strips for a shoulder would go in another and so forth). Cut some extra
strips in case of emergencies. Set all the strips to the side so that they stay
dry and glue free until you need them.
2.5) If you are not using a body double (and most of your probably aren’t) now
is also the time to prop up your armour piece. Unless your piece is built with
a lot of corrugated cardboard and so is very sturdy, you are going to want to
pad underneath or stuff it so that it doesn’t distort too much as it dries. You
can correct minor deviations in the next stage of construction but not major
ones.
What do I mean by padding? Ok, let’s say you are doing just a plain, simple
chest plate (or back plate). Because it is such a simple design you cut it out
of a single sheet of Bristol board. Now you are going to cover it in
cheesecloth. The problem is if you lay the piece flat on the table, then when
it dries it is going to dry flat. It will not have the curve it needs to
conform to your body. To give it this curve, tightly crumple up a bunch of
newspaper (or plastic bags), tape them together and place them under the center
of your armour piece. With the weight of the wet cheesecloth on top the edges
of the piece should curve down slightly with the center being supported by the
newspaper.
Basically the idea is to approximate, as closely as possible, the final shape
you want the piece to have.
3)
Now it’s time to mix your glue.
Pull out your bucket, spatula, measuring cup, glue and water. You want to mix
approximately 2 parts carpenter’s glue to 1 part warm water (here’s where the
measuring cup comes in). Measure the glue first and then add the water,
stirring until it’s thoroughly mixed.
4)
Put on your rubber gloves, if
you have them, and pick up a piece of cheesecloth. It’s usually best to start
with the larger strips. Grasp one end of the strip in each hand and lower it
into the glue mixture. Swish it around until it is thoroughly coated in glue.
Try not to let go of the ends as trying to unravel wet cheesecloth is difficult
and frustrating, especially on smaller pieces. Bring your two hands together
and squeeze the cloth gently between them. You don’t want to eliminate all the
water, just 75-80% of it.
5)
Take your strip over to your
piece and position it on top, trying to cover as much of the piece as possible.
Once the cheesecloth has stuck to the piece you can let go of the ends and
smooth the strip down. Tuck the edges of the strip underneath the base if you
can. Don’t worry if they don’t stick to the underside as they can be trimmed
later. The important bit is to get the topside as smooth as possible (and to
make sure it stays stuck – sometimes, if the cheesecloth is not quite wet
enough, it will fall off the piece). Feel free to tie, pin and tape pieces of
your armour to support it. For example, say you have a shoulder piece with 4
large spines coming off it. You made the spines from cardboard tubes that are
now sagging under the weight of the cheesecloth. To stop this sagging, you
string a piece of twine, nice and tight, between two table legs (or two other
such supports). You then position the piece underneath this twine so that you
can lean the spines up against the rope, at the angle they are supposed to be.
You can even use masking tape to secure them to the twine. Don’t worry about
the tape – any that you cannot remove afterwards will be covered by the paper
pulp in Step 3.
6)
Continue adding cheesecloth
strips, overlapping the edges of the strips slightly, until the piece is
completely covered. Don’t worry if you haven’t managed to cover every single
speck of space, especially around the edges – as long as 99% of the piece if
covered it’s all good.
7)
Clean-up. As long as it is
still wet, carpenter’s glue can be cleaned up with water (a little soap helps
too). Any leftover glue & water mixture can be saved in an airtight
container (or simply by putting plastic wrap, held in place by an elastic band,
over the top of your bucket).
8)
Leave your piece to dry.
Overnight is usually sufficient. If the piece looks dry, rotate it and feel for
any damp spots (especially if it has been leaning against anything for
support). When the piece is completely dry, use a pair of strong scissors to
trim any jaggedy bits around the edges.
9) Once the cheesecloth is completely dry you can papier mache the underside of the piece if you so wish. This adds extra strength and gives a more finished look to the project. You can use newspaper strips, or paper towels, soaked in leftover glue mixture. The procedure is very similar to the one used with the cheesecloth. If you have no glue mix left over you can always make another batch (remember 2 parts glue to 1 part water). Set the piece aside until the papier mache is completely dry.
I have to admit, this is the stage I dislike the most. When you have to do a whole suit it gets extremely annoying. It’s also a hard step to explain. In the future I hope to have some pictures of the process to show you.
But now Step 3 – Adding The Paper Pulp
Armour
That Grows On Trees
Tutorial by Kusanivy, August 2004, Feel free to use this tutorial as you see
fit, all I ask is that you do not try and pass it off as your own.
