I saw this idea online a year or two ago (the post can be found here), but just finally got around to trying it myself. I hadn't paper mached since elementary school, so there was a bit of a learning curve... and the post that inspired me was (IMO) a little sketchy on the details, so I'm including my advice for this project. I made two clouds, and learned from the first one.
- Put down a tarp. I literally covered our studio in tarp and I'm so glad I did. This was messy. Wear clothes you're okay with getting paste all over.
- I don't think the colour of the balloons really matters. They say to use white, but you're not going to see them anyways.
- For the paper mache paste, I just used flour and water, and made it slightly thinner than pancake mix.
- I started out making my newspaper bits too small. I found about 4" x 8" to be about the ideal size, and ripped smaller bits when needed. In the end I realized I was spending too much time trying to make it look pretty, when it's not even visible in the finished product.
- I only put paste on one side of the newspaper, and less paste than you'd think. I ended up just slopping it on with my hands, though you could use a wide brush if you wanted. I used too much paste on the first one and it just took WAY longer to dry.
- It seems like two layers of paper mache is ideal. You don't want your clouds to come out too heavy, but you also don't want them to collapse. I waited about 4 hours between coats of paper mache, then about 16 hours until I started adding fluff.
- I used two different types of paper (the first, Canadian Tire ads, the second, The National Post) to cover my balloons. It made it easy to tell where I'd already covered on the second pass.
- They say to use spray glue, and although I think you could get away without it, I'd seriously recommend it. I think it went way faster this way, and the stuff dries fairly quickly so you don't have to hold it in place for long. It also makes it easier to fill in gaps - just spray the gap, and stick fluff on, without having to clear a space to affix it directly to the paper mache.
In all, I'm so pleased with how they turned out - it was more time consuming and sitting on the floor than I anticipated, but totally worth it in the end. I'm slightly concerned that they're going to be magnets for dust and allergens, however. We'll see. Maybe I'll vacuum them?
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