# Help With My Uncooperative Pumpkin?



## Anda (Jun 20, 2012)

I'm working on a paper mache jack-o-lantern along the lines of SpookyBlue's Moth Brothers. I'm more of an afghan person than a sculpture person, so I'm actually kinda proud of how he looks.

But I've been driving myself nuts trying to figure out how to get the kind of texture I'd like. I've tried making ridges by adding extra (seems simple, but it looks not-great). I tried making twisted "rope" pieces, laying them on and using strips to smooth the surface a little. I even tried making paper clay and forming the shapes that way. No juice. 

I guess I'm just a little frustrated. Any advice for a non-artist?


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## bmaskmaker (May 6, 2010)

If you're going for the same kind of texture as your inspiration, use larger sheets of paper ... like paper towels or 1/4 sheets of newspaper. Let it soak in the glue (longer for newspaper than paper towels, obviously) long enough that it softens. Then squeeze out (I use a squeegee to do this) as much glue as you can, then lay it over your piece. If it's soft enough, you'll be able to press in the wrinkles and folds and get the texture you're looking for, I think. 

-- b


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Good looking pumpkin - you have the basic prop down beautifully, so that's half the battle.

As bmask mentions, paper towels are excellent for texturing. They soak up a lot of mache paste, so you do need to squeeze out the excess before applying them to the prop. An example of what it looks like is this guy - final layer of paper towel mache gives my graveyard goblin that wrinkly skin look:


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## Anda (Jun 20, 2012)

Thanks for your input!  

I did try with paper towels today after newsprint fell flat (literally). Mine is the custom-piece variety with the small sheets. I tore it smaller to try to get the pieces into the smaller spaces - between the eyes, between the eye and stem. They were soaked between 10 and 40 mins, trying to get the right texture and they still seemed too bulky. Maybe I'm just having an ego issue because I used a candy-pail pumpkin instead of a big light-up one. 

I didn't try tp, though I've seen it online. I was worried it would give me too fine a wrinkle. That's what it seems to do in tutorials, anyway.

I will definitely revisit paper towels. My artist husband has offered to take over, but I'd like to have my own little victory here.  Thanks again! I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

If you're using a two ply paper towel, you can always separate and use the individual layers to get a less bulky look. I do this when working on smaller props. I've never let them soak long either because it doesn't seem necessary, but squeezing out the excess paste definitely is unless you like a soggy prop


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## scarrycher (May 30, 2012)

I cant remember where I saw this, maybe AllenH maybe not... He corpsed a pumpkin using cotton balls and laytex. You can move the cotton around and make it smooth or not... It was too cool


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

How about taking a largish section of newspaper, and fold/roll it into strips about two thirds as wide as you want your ridges, and about two thirds as thick, wet them with the paste, then stick them on the pumpkin so that they are centered in the areas where you want ridges, now, when you go to lay a skin of paper over them, you will see the edges of those folded pieces smoothed out to give you the ridges you want. You can trip the ends of those strips so that they will taper in at the top and bottom center like a real pumpkin's ridges would.
If you are looking to create the fine, coarse ridges on the stem of the pumpkin, you might look at using a heavily textured paper towel or crepe paper wrapped around a stem in the shape you like. Remember that you don't have to pull the paper super tight. Letting the crepe paper sit in it's natural form would let you have those fine ridges. You could also go the clay route and just grind or cut in those fine ridges when the whole thing is dried.


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## bmaskmaker (May 6, 2010)

If you're using paper towels 10-40min soaking in paste is too long. What you want is thin, wet sheets. If you let the paper towels soak, then they thicken with the paste they're absorbing, and get harder to manage. You also use way more paste and it takes longer to dry. 

Select-a-size towels are fine, but don't tear them small yet. Experiment with your larger areas, to get comfortable with the technique, then do your smaller ones once you're comfortable. 

My suggestion -- put the paste one quickly (dip or brush on, either way), then squeeze or squeegee it so most of the paste comes out. With paper towels, you should be left with a relatively thin, very malleable wet sheet ... that when you push wrinkles in and such, should hold it's shape enough to dry. 

Also, what paste are you using? Some pastes work better than others for this kind of technique. 

But don't despair ... your pumpkin is great start. And you'll master the texture, I'm sure.


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## discozombie (Jun 21, 2012)

Ive had my best results using mache clay (Stalloween's recipe)


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## discozombie (Jun 21, 2012)

Not sure why my photos are not showing up...


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Here's the link - texture looks great

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/eQJEXBXUtIw2omX2T4LcBtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?


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## Anda (Jun 20, 2012)

Success rice!  I thought about what you said, RoxyBlue, about separating the layers and decided that I might be having a quality issue. I got a roll of the cheapest paper towels I could find and they're working great!

I am having a little bit of trouble getting the towels right up to the edge of the facial features without hanging over. But I figure my trusty Xacto knife can handle it.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Glad it's working for you

I've made a few mini props and they definitely pose their own set of challenges when trying to get papier mache into small spaces where fingers can't easily go. I tear off little pieces of paper towel and use a flat toothpick or blade to help push the material where it needs to be. It's an exercise in developing patience:jol:


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