{"id":4145,"date":"2018-10-15T12:40:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T12:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/?p=4145"},"modified":"2020-11-18T14:48:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T14:48:39","slug":"making-a-paper-mache-kitchen-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/making-a-paper-mache-kitchen-knife\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a paper mach\u00e9 kitchen knife"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I made this paper mach\u00e9 kitchen knife prop to go with one of my <a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/paper-mache-gingerbread-men\/\">evil gingerbread people<\/a> that I made for Halloween 2018!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-06.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-06.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mache kitch knife - finished!\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I actually did <a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/cheap-easy-diy-knife-props\/\">another fake knife project<\/a> several Halloweens ago, but the goal of that project was to create lots of knives very quickly, and I knew they&#8217;d be hanging up high enough that no one would get a good look at them, so they didn&#8217;t need to be perfect. <!--more--> For this project, I wanted to create a fairly realistic knife that would stand up to a bit of scrutiny. It was actually pretty easy!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-01.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-01.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mach\u00e9 kitchen knife - foam board shapes\"><\/a><\/p>\n <div class=\"ad-300x250 ad-float-right\">\r\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- MMS 300x250 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5009313124668288\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3616150394\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>I made the basic shape for the knife out of three layers of foam board. I took our biggest kitchen knife and traced it onto foam board, and then drew a slightly more exaggerated shape around that and cut it out. You&#8217;ll see for the blade portion I only included the back edge of the blade; that way the back edge will be thick, but of course I want the blade edge to be thin.<\/p>\n<p>I traced the handle two more times and cut &#8217;em all out.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-02.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-02.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mach\u00e9 kitchen knife - assembling the pieces\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I cut out two pieces of poster board to create the edge of the blade. I taped them around the middle piece of foam board, and taped the other two foam board handle pieces in place.<\/p>\n<p>I covered the entire knife handle in very thin strips of masking tape (not shown) to smooth out the edges a bit. I covered the blade with a piece of shipping tape on each side; this is to help prevent the poster board from warping when I add&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>Paper mach\u00e9<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-03.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-03.jpg\" alt=\"kitchen knife prop - paper mach\u00e9\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I then covered the knife with tiny pieces of paper mach\u00e9 \u2014 one layer all over and a couple more at the connection of the blade and the handle. You can read about my paper mach\u00e9 process and materials <a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/my-paper-mache-method\/\">here<\/a>. The short version is: I use <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2LYmQsW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roman PRO-543 universal wallpaper adhesive<\/a> (paid link) and alternating layers of newspaper and brown wrapping paper.<\/p>\n<div class=\"am-item\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00FK8VNJE\/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;linkCode=li3&amp;tag=manningkrull-20&amp;linkId=c750f16dcb0f016ec23f35d64e1c3348&amp;language=en_US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=B00FK8VNJE&amp;Format=_SL250_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=manningkrull-20&amp;language=en_US\"><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=manningkrull-20&amp;language=en_US&amp;l=li3&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00FK8VNJE\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\"><\/div>\n<h2>Painting<\/h2>\n<p>Before painting, I covered the knife blade in three light coatings of spray gesso (not shown), to smooth out the texture of the paper mach\u00e9 a little bit. I don&#8217;t use gesso for all my projects, but I do use it when I want a surface to be very smooth. I normally don&#8217;t mind seeing the subtle texture of the little scraps of paper in most of my projects, but I wanted the knife blade to be as smooth and uniform as I could get it. Anyway, the gesso helped!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-04.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-04.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mache kitchen knife - silver spray paint\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When that was dry, I spray painted the whole knife silver and let that set for a day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-05.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-05.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mache kitchen knife - masking the blade and spray painting the handle\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I then used a piece of very thin (1\/4&#8243;) masking tape to create a line along the edge of the handle. I protected the blade with newspaper and masking tape, and I spray painted the handle black. I removed the masking tape to reveal the line of silver down the handle.<\/p>\n<p>The masking tape didn&#8217;t work perfectly (it rarely does) so the line was a little blurry, but I fixed it with some silver and black acrylic paint and a small paintbrush. Even though the masking tape doesn&#8217;t always work perfectly, it&#8217;s still great for giving you a very clear guide to work with when finishing your painting by hand. Trying to paint a straight line like this with no guide would be a nightmare!<\/p>\n<p>Oh yeah, I also painted silver dots on the handle.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-06.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-06.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mache kitch knife - finished!\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I then did a <em>very<\/em> light dusting of black spray paint on the blade, let that set, and then I hand-painted a silver edge along the blade. The dusting of black is there to let this silver edge stand out as even brighter\/shinier.<\/p>\n<p>I brushed a coating of clear gloss onto the blade to make it nice and shiny. All done! I&#8217;m really happy with how this came out!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-07.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-07.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mache kitch knife - with murderous gingerbread lady\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-08.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/paper-mache-knife-08.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mache kitch knife - close up in hand\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I glued the knife into my gingerbread lady&#8217;s hand with a hot glue gun. Check out my article about my <a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/paper-mache-gingerbread-men\/\">evil gingerbread people<\/a> for more pics!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I made this paper mach\u00e9 kitchen knife prop to go with one of my evil gingerbread people that I made for Halloween 2018! I actually did another fake knife project several Halloweens ago, but the goal of that project was to create lots of knives very quickly, and I knew they&#8217;d be hanging up high [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[233,303,330,14,194,3,85,244],"class_list":["post-4145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-accessories","tag-gingerbread-house","tag-gingerbread-men","tag-halloween","tag-knife","tag-paper-mache","tag-prop","tag-weapon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4145"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5974,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions\/5974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}