Comment

Comment by AGP # on March 11, 2019 at 12:21pm

Thanks for all that info Don, much appreciated!, have used fibreglass in the past to reinforce some of my thinner walled Gourds, a little bit on the expensive side, wish I had have known about your Steroidal Papier Mache system back then, but duly noted, and will no doubt be used sometime in future builds as the need arises, Cheers!  :-)

Comment by Don Craig on March 11, 2019 at 11:12am

AGP, the glue is Tite-Bond, the craft paper is brown paper grocery bag or something similar.  I tear the paper roughly by hand into pieces about the size of a maple leaf.  I soak the paper piece in diluted glue until it's saturated.  Then I flatten the paper down on the keg, covering cracks and seams, overlapping, etc.  I cover the whole keg, inside and out this way.  When it all dries, it makes a very hard shell, almost like fiber glass. Kind of heavy.  This is papier mache on steroids.  The torn paper pieces also make an interesting  pattern like leaves.  Then sand and varnish as you see fit.  I also made a door panel this way, a haloween wolf mask and a machete sheath.  It's an easy low-tech process but messy (might want rubber gloves, I don't, the glue washes off).  And it doesn't have to be done all at once, you can walk away and come back to the project any time.  I've also used strips of glued paper like this to reinforce inside corners of cigar boxes.  Saturated fabric could also be used.  The drum I made was like a small conga, I left the bottom open.  I bought a goat skin head from an internet supplier.  Wet it, stretched it, stapled it down, wrapped black electricians tape over the staples, it looked fine.  It sounded good.  I eventually gave it to a friend, who eventually took it to his church music group.

Comment by AGP # on March 11, 2019 at 9:38am

"Thanks Don", have done a few different types of builds with Roo Skin, something obviously in plentiful supply in the land down under, never heard of glue-saturated craft paper being used, does it work?, and if so, how did sound??  :-)

Comment by AGP # on March 11, 2019 at 9:34am

"Thanks" Dave, Bones & Uncle John for the much appreciated comments, another build off the bucket list  :-)

Comment by Don Craig on March 11, 2019 at 1:10am

Beautiful gourd, nice color, never thought about Roo skins.  New idea:  I made something similar out of a wooden nail keg covered with glue-saturated craft paper. 

Comment by Uncle John on March 10, 2019 at 4:18am

Nice work and a piece of art.

Comment by Jeff 'Bones' Reilly on March 9, 2019 at 3:20pm

He smokin big peace pipe ... ugg . 

Comment by Dave Lynas on March 9, 2019 at 2:25pm

Wow AGP. Tie me kangaroo down Mate!