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Step 3Building in more detailed features
So far, we have a nice, strong (we hope!) ball shape, but it's not looking much like Mr Morton. Now it's time to build in more features. The beauty of papier mache is that anything can be used as a framework: from cardboard to chicken wire, you name it. I was conscious of weight so I went with some light cardboard that I got from a cereal packet.
Mr Morton's face is quite angular, coming down in a triangle, so I started by drawing a rough sketch of one side of his face on one side of the cereal packet. I made full use of the flaps when positioning the ears rather than having to add something on later. I then cut out the shape and used this as a template to draw the other side on the remaining piece of cereal packet. The cardboard was just long enough: I considered adding more later to make his chin, but in the end decided this wasn't necessary.
I then used strips of masking tape to fix the pieces to the balloon shape, lining them up to make the shape of his face. I had some PVA glue but masking tape is better for this since you can reposition it easily. I also used masking tape to shape the flaps to make the ears.
I then packed the space between the cardboard and the balloon with scrunched up newspaper. This is where I made my first mistake: I forgot to cut the eye holes before fixing the face to the balloon! I had to remove some of the scrunched up paper and use the Stanley blade to cut out the eyes. With that done, I replaced the scrunched up newspaper, using masking tape around the eyes to leave a space between the eye socket and the balloon so that I could cut a hole for the eyes later. I discovered later just how difficult it was to cut through the papier mache balloon, so it may have been wiser to leave eye-shaped sections of the balloon uncovered when applying the papier mache. This would have been a good measure of where the eyes would be placed (as I discovered later, I made a critical mistake!)
I then covered the whole structure in more papier mache. I'm not sure how many layers, but I would recommend at least two. Once that had dried, I rolled up half-pages of newspaper to make the grooves for Mr Morton's hair and stuck these in place using more masking tape. I then covered this in more papier mache.
Although I didn't consider it at the time, I think the final result would look better if the more detailed features like the beard and lips were built up using papier mache.
Mr Morton's face is quite angular, coming down in a triangle, so I started by drawing a rough sketch of one side of his face on one side of the cereal packet. I made full use of the flaps when positioning the ears rather than having to add something on later. I then cut out the shape and used this as a template to draw the other side on the remaining piece of cereal packet. The cardboard was just long enough: I considered adding more later to make his chin, but in the end decided this wasn't necessary.
I then used strips of masking tape to fix the pieces to the balloon shape, lining them up to make the shape of his face. I had some PVA glue but masking tape is better for this since you can reposition it easily. I also used masking tape to shape the flaps to make the ears.
I then packed the space between the cardboard and the balloon with scrunched up newspaper. This is where I made my first mistake: I forgot to cut the eye holes before fixing the face to the balloon! I had to remove some of the scrunched up paper and use the Stanley blade to cut out the eyes. With that done, I replaced the scrunched up newspaper, using masking tape around the eyes to leave a space between the eye socket and the balloon so that I could cut a hole for the eyes later. I discovered later just how difficult it was to cut through the papier mache balloon, so it may have been wiser to leave eye-shaped sections of the balloon uncovered when applying the papier mache. This would have been a good measure of where the eyes would be placed (as I discovered later, I made a critical mistake!)
I then covered the whole structure in more papier mache. I'm not sure how many layers, but I would recommend at least two. Once that had dried, I rolled up half-pages of newspaper to make the grooves for Mr Morton's hair and stuck these in place using more masking tape. I then covered this in more papier mache.
Although I didn't consider it at the time, I think the final result would look better if the more detailed features like the beard and lips were built up using papier mache.
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