LEIPÄJUUSTO

One of the most therapeutic part for Dalin in this project was playing with paper mache. Dalin used paper mache and chicken wire almost in every accessories and armor parts. Making the basic shape out of chicken wire and covering it with paper mache made from newspaper and flour-water mix up is the easiest job ever.

The flour-water mix up is a cheaper version for wallpaper paste and works just as well.
Put about 3 dl water in the pot and let it warm a bit before adding 1 dl wheat flour. Mix it really well by using whisk and when the water starts to boil the flour solidifies and the mixture reminds a glue... or white goo ectoplasm.

It's a pot full of white goo...think what you want from that.

Although the drying takes about two days if you put a lot of layers, but after the paper is dry it's really hard and durable. The chicken wire inside doesn't bend, but gives a slight flexibility. The paper mache shrinks a little bit when dry, so there was some unevenness on the surface. To fix these unevenness's Dalin covered the armor plates with craft foam.

All the armor plates after covered with craft foam.

Contact glue !!!

The edges were also a bit uneven so Dalin used a wood filler (pikasilote) to clean and fix the edges. At the moment we didn't have a drill so the holes needed to make by hand. It was painful. First the plates had to adjust to their right places by using nails (the metal ones, not the ones growing at the tip of your fingers) to keep them on their right places. After that Dalin used screwdriver to get the holes bigger.

The not so clean work space.

When all the plates were covered and fixed and sanded, it was time to paint them. We noticed that spray paint doesn't stick or spread out evenly to craft foam, so the best solution was to paint them using acrylic paints and then spray paint them. To get the right color was almost as frustrating as trying to dye the fabrics on right color.

To the bottom plates Dalin used a template to get the dim flower image. First the plates were spray painted by using matte gold and after the paint was dry she put the template to the middle of plate and sprayed chrome gold paint over it. When taking of the template from the plate the image is like it shows on the source image.

Chacha's wings are also getting some chrome paint on them.

Binding the plates together with golden threads was a panic-stricken situation. After not sleeping properly over 50 hours, your hands tend to shake a little bit and brains are fueled by energy drinks.
Not recommended to anyone !!! Finish your outfits a week before the occasion !!

- D