"Papier Mache" Clay

Easy Homemade clay, all you need is newspaper and wallpaper paste.


This is the easiest and cheapest recipe for paper clay.

Steps:

1. Get your newspaper
2. Soak it in water.
3. Tear it into strips. Into a bucket
4. Put more water in it so it just barely covers the paper.
5. Stir it up using a dremmel tool blender, food processor or regular blender.
6. Blend it into a pulp
7. Transfer some pulp into another bucket. Poor more water into the 1st bucket and stir more.
8. Get a cotton (or mesh) bag and put pulp in it and strain it.
9. Take strained pulp and put into the 2nd bucket.
10. Take some wallpaper paste and sprinkle it onto pulp.
11. Stomp/Kneed pulp into a clay.

This technique has been the only technique that uses very little glue.


According to www.wallpaperinstaller.com Cellulose is common binder for a substitute for natural gums and a stabilizer in emulsions as well as a thickening agent. It can be simply created using NaOH (Sodium hydroxide) which dissolves the wood or cotton with an alkali.

Cellulose
"Cellulose methyl ether, produced by treating cellulose from wood or cotton with an alkali, such as sodium hydroxide, followed by methyl chloride. The resulting product is a white granular solid, soluble in cold water but insoluble in hot water. In addition to being used as an adhesive, it is used as a thickening agent, as a substitute for natural gums, and as a stabilizer in emulsions."
-from Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books Dictionary from the Conservation On-Line (COOL) website

"Methyl cellulose occurs as practically odorless and tasteless, white to yellowish-white granules or powder. The pH of a 1% w/v solution is in the range of 5.5 to 8.0. Its angle of repose is about 40 degrees to 50 degrees and it is hygroscopic. It swells and disperses slowly in cold water to form a clear-to-opalescent, viscous, colloidal dispersion. The viscosity is increased with increased concentrations. The viscosity decreases with increased temperatures to about 50 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius, where gel formation occurs. The thermogelation is reversible when the viscous solution reforms upon cooling."
-from Wade A., Weller P.J. (eds) Handbook of Pharmaceutical Compounding.

In paperhanging, cellulose has the highest water content of any paste in general use (around 97%). It usually comes in a small box and is packaged as a white powder. It is mixed with cold water on the job and can be used with a variety of lightweight materials such as porous papers, grasscloth and silk. It's adhesion is mostly of the mechanical type. It leaves very little solids behind and is not suitable for many wallcoverings which require greater amounts of initial tack and holding power.