To glue or not glue?

That is the question for the Frog Queen.

I am dying to play with papier mache - looks like lots of fun. I tried it once years ago on my very first spider. I made it out of flour and water boiled, then dipped newspaper in it. Looked good. Did not last a through. October here in the Northwest is rainy, despite me covering it with paint and sealer, a small amount of water must have got in, cause it turned to mush.

Which in fact, left unattended in the garage through the holidays, grew a nice yellow-green color. At least that is what it looked like the last time I saw it. It disappeared in the night.

I swear sometimes I can see it peeking out from behind the compressor.

It looks angry.

And hungry.

I am not going to try to catch it.

I think we can live together

if it stays out of my way, I promise not to beat it with a broom....or burn it with a blow torch :)

Okay, where were we?

So, learning that I cannot rely on my grade school recipe, I scoured the interweb and found many of you that make fantastic pieces. And many of you have shared your recipes. Thank you, thank you.

Wait, what is this?

A common ingredient is glue.

Easy enough, I know where the store is, comes in big jugs and I have the means to get there and bring it home.

But I am vegetarian, and I know what glue is made of.

It has been what has kept me choosing foam over papier mache for years. But all there is so much cool stuff to be made!!! It is killing me.

I know that foam is probably overall worse for the environment...so why do I worry.

(BTW - I do go out of my way to take all the foam we don't use the foam recycling place in the middle of nowhere, by the river in the industrial area of town, where I am sure lots of people go "missing"....every time I make it back alive, I hope the environment appreciates it.) :D

I could solve all my problems if I would just learn how to carve foam. That has proven to be harder than I thought....remember these angel wings!! :(

So I am back to flour and water....and a bit of clove oil, which I read is supposed to deter mold. At least that is what Wikipedia says....and they are always right. Right?!? :D

Oh, yeah and whole lotta sealer and paint and more sealer and paint...

I use zinc powder on my roof every year....I wonder if I can mix that in with the flour? No, wait, that is for moss.

Living in the Northwest it is hard to tell on green fuzzy/fluffy thing from another.

Or, I could just tell myself that the cows are already dead and no matter if I use the product or not it is not going to bring them back from the dead.

Oh, but zombie cows would be cool!

Anyway, can't do the glue thing. I know some of you are rolling your eyes at me and I know. I am being silly. But how is that different from any other day?

FQF