Making Paper Sculptures

Last week I taught my students how to make paper sculptures out of fiber and water. We used bisque molds, (once fired clay), 130g water, and about 10g of fiber to make each sculpture. I used a sensitive kitchen scale to measure the amounts of each material.

Toilet paper works great for the fiber: its easy for the kids to mash up into the water. I had them mash it together with a popsicle stick for about five minutes until it turned into goop.

Once the pulp was ready, they scooped it up with their hands and pressed it into the mold with their fingers. I  put towels underneath the bisque molds so that the excess water wouldn't make a mess. I reminded them to press really hard to make sure that the pulp got into the eye and ear crevices of the animal molds.











To help absorb more of the water, we put one side of the towel over the mold and pressed the water out of it.

They will dry over a period of the next few days, but putting them in a toaster oven for 20 minutes works too. The bisque molds work because bisque absorbs water. Plaster, we discovered, doesn't absorb water nearly as well. It can still work but more often than not, the paper sticks to the mold.



After the molds are done, we painted them with tempura paints and used them to make some great collages! I let the kids integrate their paste paper from last week, and some flat bottomed marbles into their artwork as well.

Mixed Media Class: Art Paper

On Friday, my class of 14 Students made papers for a future collage. Based off of a paste-paper project I did in college, we painted and stamped textures onto construction paper to create unique art papers. My students used rubber stamps, foam stamps, sponges, toothbrushes, forks, pallet knives, straws, and other objects to texture and color their papers. Instead of the paste material, I used tempura paint! 

This paper was sponged with red and then stamped with blue. 

 Some students dipped plastic forks into their paint and then sketched lines all over their papers. 

 Some students splattered interference paint onto their darker papers to add a shine.

 this texture was made by dragging a fork across a layer of paint in diagonal lines.

Each student made two or three papers. next week we will cut them up and use them to make fascinating, vibrant collages!