Soaking in a bowl of water for three hours.
Humidity and outdoor exposure can cause paper mâché to weaken and paint to fade. Spar varnish and exterior paint can help prevent, but not completely eliminate the problem of fading. Spar varnish will also prevent some water damage. But if water finds a way to seep in, the item may still be at risk of water damage to the paper and flour paste. Mold or disintegration of the paper can result from water infiltration. I was looking at some products that might help prevent the problem.
Removing the foam ball.
This year I have been experimenting with different types of mixtures for paper mâché mixtures. Rather than mixing flour and water to spread on the newspaper, I decided to try some other liquids in my mix. For this experiment, I was using some thin-set mortar ad mix with the flour. I use this product when mixing grout for my stained glass gazing balls. It is a form of liquid latex. My goal was to permeate the paper with the product so that water would not affect the paper.
When dry, the ball is still intact.
Please note: If you replicate this experiment, you should wear proper skin and eye protection and have proper ventilation.
I mixed together all-purpose flour and the thin-set mortar ad mix. No water was added to the mix. I don't generally use a set recipe because I find that flour will hold different amounts of liquid depending on humidity. I just add liquid and stir until the mixture becomes smooth, with no (or very few) lumps. If the mixture is hard to spread and lumpy, there is too much flour. The solution is to add more liquid. If the solution saturates the paper causing it to rip easily or slip, it is too thin. The solution: add more flour. If you work with paper mâché often, you will know a proper mix when you see it.
For this experiment, I covered a Styrofoam ball with plastic wrap, then covered the ball in three layers of the thin-set/flour paper mâché mixture, letting each layer dry before adding the next. When the ball was thoroughly dry, I cut the ball open in four quadrants and removed the foam ball and plastic. After that, I put the four pieces of the paper mâché back together using hot glue to form a hollow ball. Then three more layers of the paper and thin-set/flour mixture. When the ball was dry, it was time to see if it would hold up when saturated with water. No other sealer was added to the ball.
In the picture, you will note that this foam ball has seen better days. It has been used in four projects so far. I try to make as much use of my materials as possible. In this day of Covid-19, I don't want to have to be out and about looking for supplies or paying exorbitant prices from internet sites. I tend to reuse my recycle until it screams.
I held the reconstructed ball under running water to make sure it was thoroughly wet. Then I placed it in a container of water for three hours. At three hours, the ball was completely intact. When dry, all of the edges of the pieces of paper were still tightly adhered to the ball.
In conclusion, three hours does not definitely prove that the thin-set admix completely and permanently protects an item. However, it show that the item will last much longer than if this were just a flour and water mix. Once painted and sealed with spar varnish, it should add some length to the time that a paper mâché item will survive in extreme conditions.
I blogged about a different product used for waterproofing earlier this year. The article was published on July 20th, 2020. If you are interested, you can read the article at folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com.
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