Acrylic Paper Mache

Ok for a while now I have been interested in experimenting with Paper Mache.  There is some amazing work being done with this materiel.  Take at look at the work of the Japanese artist  Hajime Emoto, here is a couple of links to some of his work.  http://scienceray.com/philosophy-of-science/specimens-of-mythological-creatures-displayed-in-japanese-museum/   http://pinktentacle.com/2006/07/gallery-of-fantastic-creatures/ .   Yes that is paper mache amazing right.  Look at his work and poking around on the internet.  Lead me to the quest just want is Paper mache?  Well at the most basic paper mache is and FRP (Fiber Reinforced Polymer)  made of paper fiber or pulp and past or a glue of some type.  I tried several of the recipes that I found on the internet some I liked some I did not I found the ones that used small amounts of linseed oil to be very interesting.  If you goggle paper mache recipes you can find plenty of recipes to play with.  I am going to add to the list.  Now like I said at its basic we are dealing with a FRP.  Now I can we can use any available fiber and a compatible polymer or glue.  For this experiment I wanted something that was going to be waterproof when dry and strong but with some flex to it.  The first thing that came to my mind was Acrylic polymer.  I like acrylic it dries quickly and I know it properties, because I like it I keep it on hand in my studio and use it a lot in my works. A couple years ago I had ordered a gallon of satin acrylic medium from Douglas & Sturgess at http://artstuf.com/  now this did not end up working for the original project but I have ended up using it for several other things it is very good stuff.  When it is all gone I am going to replace it with their normal acrylic medium because I have found so many uses for it.  Having settled on acrylic for my polymer now I started looking at fibers.  Looking around the studio I had two different fibers that looked good.  The first was blown natural fiber insulation that I had picked up when I first started looking at Paper Mache.  This stuff is readily available at you locale hardware store is cheep for want you get ($10-15 a bundle) and is made of mostly recycled newspaper.  The second was some dry toilet paper pulp I had left over from a project I did a while back.   So here are the materials we are going to experiment with.

We have acrylic polymer and two types of paper fiber.  I poured a small amount of acrylic into two cups and started adding my fiber. I added enough fiber to make a thick very wet paste, but it was clumping a little especially with the toilet paper pulp on the left so I let it set over night.  Here is what it looked like on day two.

After a day of setting it had become much more smooth and even.  The biggest advantage of the toilet paper seems to be it is white.  I took a small amount and let it dry over night it dried hard and slightly translucent.  Next playing and working with it.  Realize this is basically a homemade acrylic molding paste with paper as the filler.  The advantage of using paper as the filler is the long fibers gives it strength.