Do you love making art using paper mache?
This lady right here made an excellent recipe for a paper mache clay ten years ago, and many YouTubers have used it since then.
Jonni Good of Ultimate Paper Mache creates fantastic art with her clay recipe.
She said that others made different variations of her recipe, but she still loves her classic. This is the same clay she used for over 400 art projects on her website. You can make one at home just like she does!
Here’s how Jonni makes her famous Paper Mache Clay.
You would need mixing bowls, a sieve, some measuring cups, a spoon or ladle, and a hand mixer. Just make sure you use items that you do not use with your cooking.
The materials are easy to find, too.
Jonni used toilet paper for her paper mache since it’s easier to break it apart. Alternatively, you can use old newspapers but there, are steps you need to do differently. We’ll get to that later.
You will need water, some white or clear glue, flour, and a drywall joint compound. This last one is an essential ingredient for Jonni’s paper mache clay. Without it, you won’t have that clay consistency that is better for sculptures. You can still make the ordinary paper mache art, though.
First, you must soak the toilet paper in water.
Soak it for a few seconds, then place it in a measuring cup. You’ll need one ¼ cup of mashed paper for this project. Once you get the exact amount, soak it back into the water for a few more seconds.
What if you use newspapers?
If you use newspapers, you need to soak them for hours and use the blender to break them apart. Make sure to add water to the blender so it won’t get stuck between the blades and ruin your machine.
Next, drain the water out using a sieve.
Do not press on the paper too much. Doing so will make the paper too hard and clumped up. You can test it with your hands and see if you can still press it, and it will still fall apart nicely. That’s how you’ll know you’re good to go.
Then, add 1 cup of drywall joint compound, which you can buy in a hardware nearby.
Add ¾ cup of white glue.
Use the hand mixer to high speed to mix them all.
You need to keep on mixing because you need to let all the paper fiber fall apart to make a smooth clay.
Next, add ½ up 1 cup of flour.
The flour makes your mixture stiffer, so gradually add it until you’re okay with how stiff your clay is. As Jonni pointed out, if you want to use thin layers of paper mache clay, you will need less flour in your mixture. But if you want to add more texture, then you can add more flour.
That’s it! Your clay is done.
Now you can use the clay to cover the base mold of your sculpture.
You can use a knife to spread it around the base and create nice, thin layers to make it more solid. Then, you can work your way up until you complete your paper mache project.
Get the full tutorial in the video below!
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