Paper Mache Walls?

big rockpile · #1 01/27/10, 10:55 AM

My wife is thinking of using Paper Mache for fake Rocks on the Wall in our Cabin.Anyone ever do this? Any Suggestions.

big rockpile

Bearfootfarm · #2 01/27/10, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Any Suggestions.

Don't do it unless you use a resin based paste.
Anything using flour in the mix wont last long

#3 01/27/10, 01:29 PM

I'd be concerned about fire proofing as well.

.....Alan.

Wolf mom · #4 01/27/10, 01:42 PM

I've seen walls "papered" with torn paper grocery bags. Put up with wallpaper paste. It had a unique texture. Fake rocks? Unless she's really good, it'll probably look like what it is... sorry.

PyroDon · #5 01/27/10, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A.T. Hagan

I'd be concerned about fire proofing as well.

.....Alan.

adding boric acid will prevent bugs as well as add some fire retardent .
if kept dry and bug free paper mache will last centuries

fishhead · #6 01/27/10, 01:54 PM

Try researching "cob". That might be what you are looking for.

glazed · #7 01/27/10, 02:20 PM

Yes I have seen it, and I have seen entire houses built out of it.

It's called papercrete.

suzyhomemaker09 · #8 01/27/10, 02:44 PM

Stuff that you see in Bass Pro..the artificial rocks are done with something similar to the spray foam insulation. Like the ones you find at Wally World or any home improvement store...like this

http://greatstuff.dow.com/

Pelenaka · #9 01/27/10, 04:04 PM

No clue but if it we're me I'd put in some secret cubby holes. Kinda like what's under that rock honey?

Joshie · #10 01/27/10, 05:14 PM

I'd worry about fires and keeping the paper clean. It'd be very difficult to paint them realistically.

**highlands** · #11 01/27/10, 05:25 PM

I would be very concerned about fire risk.

Consider ferro cement instead.
http://ferrocement.com
http://ferrocement.net

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

gladetop · #12 01/27/10, 06:24 PM

Shoot fire, You live in the Ozarks. I know there ain't a shortage of real rocks. Build a real one. lol

||Downhome|| · #13 01/27/10, 06:47 PM

check out papercrete, basicly the same as paper mache.

if I remember right its 4-5 parts paper to one part cement and you can add sand if you like though that adds weight.

its suppose to be fire proof too, saw somewhere they where using it for roofs.

is also lighter then ferrocement though you can use the wire reinforcement the same.

glazed · #14 01/27/10, 07:00 PM

Yeppers, Downhome!

stormwalker · #15 01/27/10, 07:13 PM

Just thinking-if it's a big project, she might want to make some molds using actual rocks.
I hope you post pictures. it sounds like a neat idea to me.

glazed · #16 01/27/10, 07:19 PM

Papercrete is a tricky term. The name seems to imply a mix of paper and concrete, hence paper-crete. But more accurately, only the Portland cement part of concrete is used in the mix - if used at all.

Arguably, it could have been called "paperment."

Papercrete may be mixed in many ways. Different types of papercrete contain 50-80 percent waste paper!

http://livinginpaper.com/

Up to now, there are no hard and fast rules, but recommended standards will undoubtedly be established in the future. The basic constituents are water and nearly any kind of paper. Cardboard, glossy magazine stock, advertising brochures, junk mail or just about any other type of "mixed (lower) grade" paper is acceptable. Some types of paper work better than others, but all types work.. Newsprint is best. Waterproofed paper and cardboard, such as butcher paper, beer cartons, etc. are harder to break down in water.

Catalogs, magazines and other publications are fine in and of themselves, but some have a stringy, rubbery, sticky spine, which is also water resistant.
Breaking down this kind of material in the mixing process can't be done very well. Small fragments and strings of these materials are almost always present in the final mix.

http://livinginpaper.com/

When using papercrete containing the unwanted material in a finish, such as in stucco or plaster, the unwanted fragments sometimes show up on the surface, but this is not a serious problem. Practitioners simply flick out the offending pieces as they apply the finish.

Papercrete can be sculpted into any shape and painted.

Papercrete additives can be: Portland cement, sand, dirt, clay, glass, or even "fly ash" - an ash at one time freely emitted into the atmosphere - now at least partially captured from power plant smoke stacks.

big rockpile · #17 01/27/10, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzyhomemaker09

Stuff that you see in Bass Pro..the artificial rocks are done with something similar to the spray foam insulation. Like the ones you find at Wally World or any home improvement store...like this

http://greatstuff.dow.com/

I worked Security there when that was put in.It is a Concrete Mortor Mix over Wire.

big rockpile

cc-rider · #18 01/27/10, 07:37 PM

That sounds like it would be WAY cool. I like the papercrete ideas, too.
Keep us posted, ok?

jtjf_1 · #19 01/27/10, 07:49 PM

Best i see is here the use ferrocement make a chicken wire sculpture and then cover it with a 3:1 Sand:cement mixture looks and feels like rock just needs some highlights

Backfourty,MI. · #20 01/28/10, 06:31 AM

Never seen anyone do the fake rocks but one of my sisters in a past house she lived in used some type of cement mix on the bathroom wall's & pressed fern & fake leaves in the stuff to make a print. She didn't leave the leaf in there just left the print. The cement mix was tinted the color she wanted for the walls so no painting afterwards. It was really cool!