Shell pasting

[Mumbles]

Good paper is often kind of hard to find unfortunately. Virgin kraft is what you want if you can find it. You can use what you have though. Thinner (lighter) paper tends to lay down really easily, which can make some really smooth, good looking shells. Using recycled paper will work, and also will break in easier and probably lay down pretty well too. You will probably find you need to dial in your pasting though. Thinner paper will require more layers to get the same thickness and strength as more typically used thicker paper. As a ball park rule of thumb, you can use about 2 layers of paper per inch of diameter. ie a 3" shell would probably use 6 layers of paper as a starting point.

 

The poundage of paper is based on a specific unit called a basis size. It can get kind of confusing if you dig into it. For kraft paper is a ream of 500 sheets 24" x 36" I believe. Other types of paper or chipboard or card stock may vary in the number of sheets and size, which is where it can get confusing. For kraft paper, poundage pretty closely corresponds to thickness. 40lb paper is 0.004" thick, 70lb paper is 0.007" thick. Again, as a starting point, you can substitute for an equivalent thickness to get something comparable. Using the 3" example again, 6 layers of 70lb is about 0.042" of total thickness. If you want to try your 40lb, I'd start with 10 layers, 0.040" total thickness.

 

The other thing that hasn't been brought up in breaking in the paper. Just brushing on glue will work, but isn't the optimal. You want to fully saturate the paper. This can be done by letting it soak a while, but it's sped up by bending and crumping the wet paper. You will notice it getting darker as it saturates. Crumpling or bending the paper breaks some of the fibers and lets the paste be taken up better. Broken in paper will shrink when it dries giving a hard solid layer. This is what helps to make a taut pasted layer. This is really noticeable on cylinder shells as you can see the strings much better and very clearly see it's quite tight. Recycled paper will be more fragile when fully saturated, so you may need to take it easy. Broken in virgin kraft is surprisingly strong. It feels somewhat like leather.

 

Wallpaper paste or wheat paste is my preferred glue. It's very cheap, and isn't as sticky as some glues when totally wet. The paper strips are a little slippery, which makes laying it down and adjusting pretty easy. It tacks up quickly enough to stay in place though. BetICouldMake1's advice on making the paste is good. Maybe I'm cooking too long, but I find I tend to have to thin it a bit to use it. When you're pasting a bunch of shells at once, the slightly warm paste feels pretty nice to use. I typically am not patient enough to cook my own, unless I'm making a big batch. You can store it for a few days though in the fridge. I prefer purchasing pre-made wallpaper paste powder. Golden harvest is a common brand. I know a lot of people who use playbox brand as well. It tends to be a little more grainy in my experience. You want the stuff made from wheat, not the vinyl based stuff. You make it in the same ratio, 6 parts water 1 part paste powder. Using a blender makes quick work of it. A spoon or whisk works just as well too.

[RocketMan1]

ok thank you for your great advice. wow!