{"id":4756,"date":"2019-01-13T13:32:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T13:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/?p=4756"},"modified":"2020-11-18T15:42:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T15:42:50","slug":"experiment-time-paper-mache-versus-plaster-cloth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/experiment-time-paper-mache-versus-plaster-cloth\/","title":{"rendered":"Experiment time: paper mach\u00e9 versus plaster cloth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve always used paper mach\u00e9 for my big masks and sculptures, and although I really enjoy the paper mach\u00e9 process it can be very time-consuming. A friend of mine mentioned that she recently tried plaster cloth \u2014 aka plaster wrap, plaster of paris strips, craft wrap, etc \u2014 and she said it saved her a ton of time. She&#8217;d made a couple Halloween masks with the stuff and they definitely looked great; she said she was so happy with the results that she&#8217;d never go back to paper mach\u00e9. Huh! I was skeptical, but intrigued.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/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 was curious if I&#8217;d enjoy working with plaster cloth, and what the results would be like in comparison to paper mach\u00e9. I was mainly curious about: the amount of time I might save, what the resulting strength and weight would be, and what the texture would look and feel like. I decided to do an experiment with some small pieces before committing to doing a whole big mask with the stuff. The specific product I happened to buy for this experiment was <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2LTfw1L\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Activa Rigid Wrap plaster cloth, 4&#8243; x 180&#8243;<\/a> (paid link).<\/p>\n<div class=\"am-item\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bulk-Buy-Activa-Plaster-3-Pack\/dp\/B0033LV5TS\/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=activa+plaster+cloth&amp;qid=1558379204&amp;s=arts-crafts&amp;sr=1-5&amp;linkCode=li3&amp;tag=manningkrull-20&amp;linkId=537a7971e25d3270d2b5f80b6ce54395&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=B0033LV5TS&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=B0033LV5TS\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\"><\/div>\n<p>Here are the things I wanted to try for this test:<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> Conduct a test involving multiple copies of a curved shape<br \/>\n<strong>\u2022<\/strong> Compare various amounts of layers of paper mach\u00e9 and layers of plaster wrap<br \/>\n<strong>\u2022<\/strong> Compare the strength of the finished pieces<br \/>\n<strong>\u2022<\/strong> Compare the weight of the finished pieces<br \/>\n<strong>\u2022<\/strong> Compare the look and texture of the finished pieces<br \/>\n<strong>\u2022<\/strong> Consider the cost differences for a project made with one material or the other<\/p>\n<h2>Shape<\/h2>\n<p>I decided to use wine bottles as the base for the shapes I&#8217;d be creating for this experiment. I wanted something curved, because curved shapes are always stronger than flat shapes. Making multiple copies of something curved would mean I could try various stress tests on them and see how these materials would hold up in an actual mask or sculpture; more on that coming up.<\/p>\n<p>I prepared the bottles by doing the following: First, I wrapped a piece of white paper onto each bottle, and taped it in place. I then used a marker to draw a large rectangle on each one; this would be my target area to cover, so all the finished pieces would be pretty much the same shape and size. I also labeled the bottles with &#8220;PM&#8221; for paper mach\u00e9 and &#8220;PoP&#8221; for plaster of paris, and I noted how many layers I would be doing for each.<\/p>\n<p>I then covered the white paper completely in strips of clear shipping tape. My hope was that the test pieces would be fairly easy to lift off of the tape. I know from lots of previous projects that this kind of tape works well as a release agent for paper mach\u00e9, but I didn&#8217;t know if it would work well for the plaster cloth.<\/p>\n<h2>Layers<\/h2>\n<p>Some background: For my paper mach\u00e9 masks, I usually do at least seven layers of paper, and on decorations with a shorter lifespan I often use about three to five layers. Each layer of paper mach\u00e9 on a big mask usually takes me between one and two hours. I often do two layers in a row and then let them dry for 12-24 hours (depending on the weather and humidity) before continuing.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d read that plaster cloth dries much faster, so that was an attractive idea, and I wondered if it would require fewer layers because it&#8217;s much thicker than paper. If I can use this stuff for future masks, I wondered: how much work time and drying time could I save?<\/p>\n<p>So, for this experiment I decided on setting up six wine bottles \u2014 three for paper mach\u00e9 and three for the plaster wrap. For the paper mach\u00e9 I&#8217;d do tests with 4 layers, 7 layers, and 10 layers. For the plaster wrap I&#8217;d do tests with 1 layer, 2 layers, and 3 layers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/paper-mache-vs-plaster-cloth-01.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/paper-mache-vs-plaster-cloth-01.jpg\" alt=\"Paper mache and plaster cloth experiment on wine bottles\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Applying the paper mach\u00e9 to the bottles was easy; I could do this stuff in my sleep! You can read about my paper mach\u00e9 process and materials <a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/my-paper-mache-method\/\">here<\/a>; he 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<p>I did all the layers in one session and let them dry for 24 hours; this is enough time in my hot dry apartment \u2014 it&#8217;s currently wintertime and my fianc\u00e9e has the heat blasting \u2014 but that might not be enough drying time under different circumstances, especially if the weather is humid.<\/p>\n<p>I set up a plastic bowl of warm water for the plaster cloth, and I cut the cloth into 6-inch strips; 6 of these for the three bottles. I laid a strip in the water for just a couple seconds, then wrapped it onto the bottle and smoothed it out with my hands. This was pretty easy; the strips got wrinkled\/folded a few times as I was laying them in place, but it was pretty easy to pull at the corners and stretch out any bumps. Applying the plaster cloth is definitely much much faster than applying paper mach\u00e9. It also dries much faster; everything felt dry to the touch just an hour or two after applying.<\/p>\n<h2>Mess and cleanup<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m experienced enough working with paper mach\u00e9 that there&#8217;s little or no mess; the wallpaper adhesive I use is thick enough that I almost never drip any of it anywhere, so my work space usually stays pretty clean.<\/p>\n<p>With the plaster strips, just taking the roll out of the packaging left plaster dust all over my counter, and then cutting the strips with scissors created a lot more dust. Applying the strips with the bowl of water caused lots of watery plaster to drip everywhere. And I read that you shouldn&#8217;t dump the bowl of water down the drain when you&#8217;re done, so I had to bottle it and throw it in the trash. So, I&#8217;d definitely say the plaster cloth is much messier and less convenient to work with than paper mach\u00e9.<\/p>\n<h2>Cutting out the finished shapes<\/h2>\n<p>When all six bottles were 100% dry, I cut through the tape at the edges of the white paper with a box cutter, and carefully removed the paper mach\u00e9 and plaster wrap shapes. I carefully peeled the tape off of the back of the shapes, leaving just the paper mach\u00e9 and plaster cloth. Both the paper mach\u00e9 and the plaster cloth were easy to separate from the shipping tape.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/paper-mache-vs-plaster-cloth-02.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/paper-mache-vs-plaster-cloth-02.jpg\" alt=\"Cutting out the paper mache and plaster wrap pieces\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I cut out a rectangle of paper \u2014 a little smaller than the first rectangle I drew on all the bottles \u2014 and traced this onto all six curved shapes with a marker. Tracing this outline helped me cut out all the shapes at exactly the same size. I cut them all out with scissors. The thicker pieces of both the paper mach\u00e9 and plaster cloth were somewhat difficult to cut with scissors; the 3 layers of plaster cloth was about as hard to cut as the 7 layers of paper mach\u00e9.<\/p>\n<h2>Comparing strength<\/h2>\n<p>I took each curved shape in my hands and gently pulled the edges outward, to get a sense of what kind of resistance there was. I also sat the shapes down, curved side up, and gently pressed down in the middle to see how much give they had. The shape that&#8217;s 7 layers of paper mach\u00e9 was my benchmark, as most of my masks are exactly that.<\/p>\n<p>The 1-layer plaster piece was very delicate and crumbly; I could feel it wanting to break apart in my hands. The 2-layer plaster piece felt flexible but somewhat sturdy. The 3-layer piece felt a little less flexible and a little more sturdy.<\/p>\n<p>The 4-layer paper mach\u00e9 piece was pretty flimsy, but not at all fragile-feeling. The 7-layer paper mach\u00e9 piece was a little bit flexible and felt pretty sturdy. And the 10-layer paper mach\u00e9 was very hard, almost like a thin piece of wood. 10 layers is definitely overkill for most projects!<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the 3-layer plaster piece and the 4-layer paper mach\u00e9 pieces felt remarkably similar! So maybe 3 layers of plaster cloth could be a good substitute for 4 layers of paper mach\u00e9. That would take so much less time to do! However&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>Comparing weight<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/paper-mache-vs-plaster-cloth-03.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/paper-mache-vs-plaster-cloth-03.jpg\" alt=\"Weighing the plaster of paris strips and paper mache\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I weighed all the finished pieces on my little digital scale; here are the results:<\/p>\n<p>Plaster cloth, 1 layer: 0.14 oz (4.0 g)<br \/>\nPlaster cloth, 2 layer: 0.28 oz (7.9 g)<br \/>\nPlaster cloth, 3 layer: 0.39 oz (11.1 g)<br \/>\nPaper mach\u00e9, 4 layers: 0.18 oz (5.1 g)<br \/>\nPaper mach\u00e9, 7 layers: 0.28 oz (7.9 g)<br \/>\nPaper mach\u00e9, 10 layers: 0.42 oz (11.9 g)<\/p>\n<p>The plaster cloth is much heavier than the paper mach\u00e9. Remember I said the 3-layer plaster piece and the 4-layer paper mach\u00e9 piece felt about the same in terms of sturdiness? The plaster one is more than twice as heavy as the paper one!<\/p>\n<h2>Appearance and texture<\/h2>\n<p>The plaster cloth feels much more fragile than the paper mach\u00e9; even at basically the same strength, if you apply a lot of pressure to the paper mach\u00e9 it just bends; it never feels like it&#8217;s going to break. But these thin plaster pieces area pretty easy to crack just by bending them a bit. Working on a dark-colored surface, I noticed the cut edges of the plaster cloth kept dropping plaster dust everywhere. The paper mach\u00e9 just feels stronger overall.<\/p>\n<h2>Thoughts about cost<\/h2>\n<p>I wanted to gauge the cost difference if I were to (theoretically) make the exact same mask twice, once with paper mach\u00e9 and once with plaster wrap. It&#8217;s hard to be very accurate in calculating how much of any material I use on a given project, but here are some estimates.<\/p>\n<p>For paper mach\u00e9, the paper itself is free or almost free; of course I use newspaper and paper bags, and sometimes cheap craft paper that&#8217;s just a dollar a roll \u2014 and a mask takes less than one roll. So I consider the cost of the paper to basically be negligible. However, the wallpaper adhesive I use costs about $20 a gallon, and I think I use about a quarter of a gallon on one medium sized mask, so that&#8217;s about $5 of paste for a completed mask. Not bad!<\/p>\n<p>The roll of plaster cloth I bought was 4&#8243; by 150&#8243; and cost $6. I estimate that a roll this size would be enough for one layer on a medium-sized mask, meaning I&#8217;d need multiple $6 rolls \u2014 at least three \u2014 to do the required amount of layers to complete a mask. There are some cheaper options and bulk options for the plaster cloth, but I think it&#8217;s safe to say using plaster cloth for a mask would cost a good deal more than paper mach\u00e9. Still, if it saves me a lot of hours\/days, it could be worth it!<\/p>\n<p>(Of course none of this includes all my other costs for a basic mask \u2014 the base materials, hard hat, screen material, paint, etc.)<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>After all of this, the only advantage I can see for using plaster cloth over paper mach\u00e9 is the speed of applying it. Other than that, it&#8217;s much more expensive, much heavier, much more fragile, and makes a way bigger mess. I&#8217;m not sure the time that I&#8217;d save could outweigh all of these drawbacks.<\/p>\n<h2>Idea: combining paper mach\u00e9 and plaster cloth<\/h2>\n<p>After this experiment, I&#8217;m thinking the optimal solution for quickly making a mask might be starting with 2 or 3 layers of paper mach\u00e9 \u2014 to create a sturdy interior texture that won&#8217;t be prone to crumbling \u2014 and then 3 or 4 quick layers of plaster cloth \u2014 to build up a lot of thickness and stability in one quick session \u2014 and then finishing with another 2 layers of paper mach\u00e9 for texture. The end result would weigh more and cost more than paper mach\u00e9 alone, but I think the time saved alone would be worth it! I&#8217;ll do a test of this soon and post my results!<\/p>\n<h2>Update!<\/h2>\n<p>I came back to this a few days later and did a test of a plaster cloth and paper mach\u00e9 combo. I took the 3-layer piece of plaster cloth that I&#8217;d made previously, and I applied two layers of paper mach\u00e9 over the whole thing, on both sides \u2014 so basically four layers of paper.<\/p>\n<p>As I pretty much expected, the combination of three layers of plaster cloth and four layers of paper ended up feeling nice and thick and sturdy, somewhere between the strength of the 7-layer piece of paper mach\u00e9 and the 10-layer piece. Definitely thick enough and strong enough for a big mask, but with all the same drawbacks of plaster cloth that I outlined above \u2014 it weighs much more than the 10-layer piece of paper (0.60 oz! compared to 0.42 for the 10-layer paper piece), and of course the cost of working this way would be much higher than working with paper mach\u00e9 alone. However, once again, the main benefit here for a big project would be a huge amount of time saved.<\/p>\n<p>One additional problem I hadn&#8217;t considered: Like I mentioned above, working with the plaster cloth created lots of plaster dust, and then lots of tiny crumbly bits when I cut it with scissors. The cut edges continued to crumble when I handled the piece to apply the paper mach\u00e9, and that meant that as I worked on the thing with all this paste sliding around I could feel lots of sandy-feeling bits in the paste. These little grainy bits were spread around the surface of the paper mach\u00e9 as I worked on it. After finishing the first layer of paper mach\u00e9 , I tried to wipe off these grainy bits with my hands before continuing with the second layer, but as I worked on the second layer I could still feel some of them sliding around in the paste as I worked on it.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the finished piece is dry, if you run your hands over the surface you can feel these grainy bits here and there. If I were to paint this piece I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;d see the grainy bits stand out in the paint job. This totally wouldn&#8217;t matter for some types of projects \u2014 like something that&#8217;s meant to have a rough texture anyway \u2014 but it might be really frustrating in other projects where you&#8217;re trying to achieve a smooth texture and want people to be able to look closely at fine details. For example, if it were a giant mummy mask, who cares! The more gritty texture the better. But, for example, for a smaller sculpture of a person with lots of painted details, any tiny bumps in the texture might be very visible and could end up being a big disappointment.<\/p>\n<p>I still want to try a big mask project with a few layers of plaster cloth in between my layers of paper mach\u00e9! I really want to see how strong the &#8220;walls&#8221; of a big mask feel when made of these materials together; I&#8217;m curious how a big shape like that would react to gentle pushing or pulling. I&#8217;ll post my results whenever I have a chance to try it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve always used paper mach\u00e9 for my big masks and sculptures, and although I really enjoy the paper mach\u00e9 process it can be very time-consuming. A friend of mine mentioned that she recently tried plaster cloth \u2014 aka plaster wrap, plaster of paris strips, craft wrap, etc \u2014 and she said it saved her a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[181,95,213,3,345,347,346,10,180],"class_list":["post-4756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arts-and-crafts","tag-craft-materials","tag-materials","tag-paper-mache","tag-plaster-cloth","tag-plaster-of-paris","tag-plaster-wrap","tag-process","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756","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=4756"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6511,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756\/revisions\/6511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manningkrull.com\/manningmakesstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}