How to cast a plaster mold for paper mache puppet heads, hands, and feet.

I had to order plasticene over the internet, it isn't available locally. I got it from Polytek. Because it's heavy, it's expensive to ship. I only bought two pounds (that cost $14.09).

How to stretch the amount of plasticene we had so we could both do puppet heads at the same time?

We went to the dollar store and Walmart and settled on two different solutions: I bought a $1 bag of small whiffle balls for me and two $1.50 hemispherical flower styrofoams for Jeimy.

She taped her two halves together and added a neck made out of half a paper towel tube; we taped the neck to a board for a working area.

I taped closed the holes in my whiffle ball (probably not necessary) and taped it to the other half of the paper towel tube and then to my own board.

First we smashed quarter-sized balls of plasticene flat and smoothed them over the entire surface of our balls. Then we just added plasticene bit by bit, inspired by a couple pictures I placed next to each other on my laptop screen, until the heads were finished.

First, we detached our heads from the boards and cut off the paper-towel tubes flush with the bottom of the plasticene we'd used to cover them.

Jeimy cut her puppet's neck and head in half (along the line between the two hemispheres of florist foam). She plugged the two half neck-holes with plasticene so they wouldn't fill with plaster of paris will be fine).

We were following directions we saw in a movie on YouTube: we put the two head halves in the smallest box they would fit in, flat side down. You want a tiny box so you don't waste a lot of plaster, but not so small that the head has to be too close to the wall of the box.

I'd like to say we next brushed the figure with some sort of mold release mixture - some use straight vaseline, some mix vaseline with mineral spirits, some just use dish detergent mixed with a bit of water - but the fact is, we didn't remember about that until we'd already mixed the plaster and it won't wait, so we just went ahead.

The directions on the box made a plaster too stiff for our purposes, we quickly found out. We went to a mixture of 2/3 cup water to 1 cup plaster. We put the water in a disposable plastic container and stirred the dry plaster dust into it with a plastic spoon. When it was smooth and all the lumps were out, we poured it into the mold.

It took a container and a half of plaster to come up over the tops of the half-heads. We even resorted to adding some bits of packing styrofoam and rock in the corners to save plaster.

After Jeimy went home I decided to try a different method with the second head. It's smaller, so it fits in a gallon-size milk jig with the top cut off. I put a few styrofoam packing peanuts in the bottom, poured some plaster, seated my head (ear down) on top of that layer of plaster, and mixed enough more plaster so it covered him halfway up. Then I stuck blobs of plasticene in two corners.

After that had dried, I removed the blobs, brushed the whole surface with vaseline, and poured enough more plaster to cover the head completely.

What we learned from Jeimy's head: It turns out to be a bad idea to start laying paper mache into a plaster mold right after you make it: the mold was still so damp and full of water that the paper mache took forever to dry and, in fact, got mold spots on it. I panicked, and put a couple more layers of paper mache on top of the mold and then set it outside to bake for several days.

When we went to pull the head out of the plaster, it was quite stuck. It turns out that new paper mache doesn't stick very well to a somewhat mildewed layer! So when we pulled it out, some of the original layer stuck to the plaster. We did some plastic surgery on it - we put a repair layer or two on the OUTSIDE of the head after pulling it from the plaster - and it's fine.

I learned from that experience. I baked the second plaster cast outside BEFORE using it. I sprayed it with varnish and let that dry thoroughly. And I put the head outside to bake with the first layers of paper mache in it.

The paper mache still was a little bit reluctant to come out, but it came. Here you see the two halves (my last layer was pink paper).

It's easy to distort your two halves when you pull them out of the plaster. I discovered when I went to put mine back together that they didn't match exactly - no matter, an evil old dude like Punch is enhanced by a crooked head! But if you were building Pretty Polly, it would be more of a problem!

I just held the head together in my hand and used newspaper with the cornstarch glue to bandaid the two halves together. Now that it's dry, it's very strong!

I tried caulk to fill some minor holes but didn't like it. I ended up using modeling paste (used with acrylic paints to put a surface on a canvas) and like it much better - it dries hard! I think plastic wood would work, also.

Something I learned from our head project: you can waste an awful lot of plaster if you're not careful, and plaster isn't cheap.

This time, I found the smallest plastic tubs that would fit the pieces I sculpted. One of the tubs was a bit too big, so when I lined it with aluminum foil (to make cleanup easier), I also put some packing peanuts on one side, since I didn't need the whole area. It saved a goodly amount of plaster.

Here are the two tubs, with the two hands and two feet tucked into them to save as much space as possible.

What I SHOULD have done: poured about 1/4" of plaster in the bottoms of the tubs, let it set, then put in the plasticene limbs and poured around them.

What I actually did, because I got distracted and made too much plaster: I cut little pieces of chopsticks, poured 1/4" of plasticene, put the pieces of chopstick in the wet plaster and balanced the hands and feet on top of the chopstick pieces, and then poured to halfway up the sides. This is ok, but you'll see the result below...

I was not impatient this time, I waited a whole day before I coated the surface you see here and poured the second half.

Punch is the only puppet in the show who always has his own legs. Usually they are carved from wood, so they are satisfyingly weighty. My paper-mache legs were very light, so I got out the hot-glue gun and glued gravel inside them. This was a smashing success!

I got this idea from a friend who actually glued rocks together to make a retaining wall near his house. Who'd have thought it?

This lens is part of Chapel Hill Fiddler's Puppets & Masks CollectionPunch and Judy • How to Make your Own Punch & Judy Dolls • Casting a plaster mold to make a paper mache head • Punch & Judy show: the other characters • Bread and Puppet Circus • How to Make a Handmade Parade • Adult Puppet Theater • Make a La Llorona paper mache mask • Scary Masks from Afar • How to make a giant puppet and an El Tigre head • The giant head masks of Jane Filer • Make a space alien head from papier mache • Creep masks for Halloween inspiration • See all the puppet lenses at once • The scary recycled puppets of artist Michel Nedjar