This is how you make a paper mache Marionette head.
The first thing you do is make a clay Marionette head. I have attached a dowel stick to a 9″x9″ wooden base to make a support for the clay head. Then I mold my head on the dowel.
Take your clay Marionette head and cover it with petroleum jelly. Get a thin layer all over. This will do is it will keep the paper mache from sticking to the clay. Be sure to try to get in all the little crevices everywhere.
I like to paper mache with wood glue and water and regular computer paper or newspaper.
Get some water and add some little torn-up pieces of paper. Rip the paper into little pieces of about half-inch square.
Add wood glue. And I don’t use a specific ratio. I just mix wood glue in until it gets kind of a milky appearance. And as you go along, you can add more.
Then when some pieces have some soaked glue water on them, start laying tiny pieces onto your head, and you want to do a single layer first and the tinier the pieces you use the smoother it will be.
After you have done about six layers of paper mache on your clay head, it’s time to remove it from the clay interior.
Cut a line behind the ears all the way around. Score around the head with a razor knife. Then take a blade, and start cutting through the layers.
If you can’t get it off, you can pop it in the microwave. And that will heat up the clay.
We now have our two halves. You can add extra layers of paper mache on the inside, but six layers is strong enough.
Now to start covering up the seam. Add some wood glue all the way around, one-half of the head. Then put your two halves together. Add some more paper mache with water, and wood glue.
Start paper mache strips over the gap. Let that dry.
Next is to add a neck to your marionette head.
After you have finished the paper mache Marionette head, you’ve cut it and covered the seams with paper mache and let it dry, you’re going to use a piece of dowel that fits into the neck hole.
- Figure out how much dowel it will take to fill up the neck. Stick it in And mark it.
- Then cut this off with a band saw or Dremel tool. You now have a neckpiece of dowel that will fit inside.
- You will need to drill two holes for a wire to be strung through the neck and dowel. Now, the wire I suggest you use is a regular clothes hanger wire. Be sure that your drill bit is bigger than your wire.
- Measure out a long piece of wire that can go through, make a loop and come out the top and then twist.
- The neck should be about an inch and a half. Cut about five inches of wire. Take your wire and fold it in half.
- And then you’re going to thread it through the holes in the neck dowel.
- Make a loop of wire at the bottom, big enough for to get nylon string through and at the top twist these two together. Rememberto twist at the top.
- Then the neck piece has to go into the torso with the same direction as the support bar in the middle of the torso. So that way, when we put our nylon cord, it will be going perpendicular in a loop, kind of like a chain, which means that our loop in the wire needs to also go flat across the front of the face.
- So use wood loop, give some glue on the top And also give some glue to the inside of your neck hole And slide your dowel into your neck hole, the wire facing flat, perpendicular to the face And put as much glue as you can get. And then go ahead and let that dry.
Painting Your Marionette Head
Before you attach your head to the body, you will want to paint it.
Acrylic paints are excellent for painting paper mache. They dry quickly and colors can be blended together to get a beautifully detailed finish.
Make sure your paper mache is completely dry before painting. Start with a primer or base coat. I use a solid white. When this has dried, add your skin color. Then add the details.
For a longer-lasting paint job, seal the finished head with varnish or acrylic sealing spray.
Attaching Your Marionette Head To The Body
Once all the glue has dried, take your marionette torso, which should have a wire inside, a thick wire for the head to hold onto. Using a dacron or nylon cord, thread a double layer of cording through the wire loop.
Loop around the inside of the torso. Be sure that the head is straightforward with the swoop of the neck facing forward as well, and drop your cording in.
Tie a knot around the bottom of the wire from the inside, estimating how to make it about the right distance of a neck coming out of a torso.
Then take a dab of glue and put it on the knot. You are finished.
