How to make a Scarecrow Head out of papier-mâché

You will need... Newspaper, a balloon, white paper (thin) PVC glue diluted with water (2 parts water to one part glue) or wallpaper paste.

1. Blow up the balloon and tie as tightly as possible.

2. Smear the balloon with glue solution.

3. Tear (not cut) newspaper into strips about the size of a large matchbox.

4. Paste the strips onto the balloon and cover all but the nozzle. Overlap strips a little. Wrinkles are OK.

5. Now paste white paper strips over the newspaper so you can see what’s not covered.

6. Allow to dry overnight, then repeat steps 4 and 5 until there are about 5 or 6 layers the last being white.

7. Leave to dry. When dry, cut the balloon nozzle with scissors. You can at this point just paint a face on using emulsion or gloss paints.

If using emulsion or water based paints, you will need to varnish with a clear varnish before using outside, a cheap varnish can be made by just covering all over with the PVC glue. It will be white at first but will dry clear.

8. If you want 3-D features then stick on a card or newsroll, a nose, ears, beard or whatever. Then simply carry on pasting strips over the head including features for 4 more coverings.

9. Paint head as in step 7 and follow varnishing advice already given.

Making a Specific Character Head

The instructions above still apply but instead of a balloon, use card, newspaper, boxes etc to make a rough base shape, e.g. a robot head can be made with boxes, Bugs Bunny would need large ears made from card or newsroll before you start. Use Sellotape to stick them together. Cut a hole in the bottom box for a neck stick.

Then get covering!

Here is a Wallis Head base made from boxes and card.