using paper mache technique with clay

[Sharion]

Hey everyone, I am new to hand building and wondering about using paper clay over a balloon in a paper mache technique if that makes sense. So layering the work to get the shape and then added toilet paper to hold structure.... I don't know what I am doing really, but wondered if anyone had tried?

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Hi and welcome!

The way you have that question written, I’m picturing you layering clay slabs with toilet paper and then more clay slabs. If the clay pieces don’t contact and blend with each other, they’ll just delaminate, especially once you fire the paper out. BUT. 

There is a technique where you mix wet paper pulp (no more than 20% by volume, but “to taste”)with reclaim slurry, so that the fibres reinforce the clay, and that is indeed called paper clay. You then dry the slurry into a workable consistency, and handbuild with that. The fibres gives pieces incredible green strength and makes attachments quite solid. Paper clay lends itself quite readily to really thin slabs that can be layered with each other, and pieces adhere to each other with just a little paper clay slip applied between. 

There is an article on the parent website here from 2009 about paper clay that was republished recently, and it recommends using cellulose attic insulation. I would personally NOT use this material because it contains fire retardant, and that’s gonna make extra fumes when you bisque your piece. 

This blog post from a former poster, Chris Campbell, does describe how to make your own paper clay quite nicely. If you want to google others, be sure to include ceramic or pottery in your search terms, or you’ll get a lot of paper mache instructions. 

 

[PeterH]

The clay will shrink as it dries, which can be  problem if the balloon doesn't slowly leak/shrink.

I found that a non-intrusive way to let a little air out of a balloon was:
- put a strip of sellotape on an accessible part of the balloon
- rub to get a good sellotape/rubber seal
- prick through the sellotape & balloon with a needle
- let some air out
- reseal the balloon with another strip of sellotape over the first

Try it on a spare balloon first.

[Orbit]

I use paperclay exclusively, and love it. You can do things with it that no other sculpture material can do. I suggest instead of using balloons, which kill millions if not billions of animals a year as they don’t biodegrade and the animals eat the balloon parts, to use a sheer stocking or pantyhose part filled with sand, which you can use just like a ballon (although I wouldn’t layer slabs, I would recommend only one layer or using slip to cover the stocking balloon, which you can do by dipping or using a syringe to make designs) and let the sand out of the stocking as the clay starts to dry. I use this technique a bunch to make work that I call slip trail building, I can actually make different sized and shaped parts and connect them together dry with the paperclay, so they have a filigree look to them.