Power Grab – Page 2 – An Unorthodox Halloween

Power Grab Paper Mache?

We’re taking a little semi-break from Halloween. Or rather, Jen had asked me to make ANOTHER pinata. This time for a church activity.

Now, my mind sees little wee ones whacking at a big ole devil shaped pinata with sticks shaped of crosses…however, I’m well aware most may not share my sense of humor on the subject. So, I settled on a traditional star pinata.

And, as long as I was making this, I may as well try out my new idea for Paper Mache.

First, there are a couple popular paper mache recipes:

Ye olde flour and water: Mix flour and water together to the consistancy you want. Easy, cheap, effective. Not that strong.

Ye olde cooked flour and water: Mix flour and MORE water, bring to boil and simmer down to consistancy you want. Same as above, but ensures no lumps.

Glue and water: Can’t get more easy. Slightly stronger than the flour/water, but does not flatten down as well, and prone to cracking.

Power Grab and water: Strong and flexible, does not stay suspended in the water well, needs constant agitation, does not flatten well.

So, I set out to combine the strength of Power Grab and the better properties of the flour pastes. And so, came up with…

The UnOrthOdOx Power Grab Paper Mache

Need: 1 tube all purpose Power Grab
2 cups Flour
Water
Salt
pot you don’t mind possibly ruining.

Measure 6 cups of water into the pot and bring it to a boil.
While it’s heating up, in another bowl measure 5 cups water, 2 cups flour, some salt to prevent mold, and 1 tube power grab. I used a whisk I bought at the local good will store.

Now, add the contents into the boiling water, stirring constantly till it reaches the desired consistancy. Think pancake batter. (About 3-5 min) Let cool before using.

*Optional* If the smell bothers you, add in some cinnamon to the mixture to mask it somewhat.

This stuff, has been a joy to work with so far.

With only 3 layers, it was strong enough to remove from the molds, and hold it’s shape while applying more layers. And, with only 3 layers, it could withstand me squeezing on it with flattened hands. But, it did tear in a spot when Jen put that pressure more on her fingertips. Not a problem for the pinata at this point, and valuable information for future halloween uses.

Once I get a fair few more layers on, I’ll be curious just how many kids will have to wail away at this thing before it breaks.

Now, as for the warning on the pot. I bought a junker pot just for these kinds of things. Boiling newspapers, making wierd experiments, etc. And, while it was in poor shape to begin with, we managed to take off more of it’s teflon while cleaning the glue off.

Busy Weekend.

Been a busy weekend.

First, we started the weekend by putting some real work into the new mask for the first time.

This one is coming along quite nicely. I’m rather excited. The full design will be remaining a little secret for some time yet as I’m not 100% finalized, but am really liking the visions in my brain. It’s too bad I can’t sketch worth a damn.

Anyway, face design is coming along. Needs teeth, needs some details, and the eyes need some work. As usual, this is made with Power Grab over Model Magic clay.

Probably obvious what I’m basing it on to anyone who has walked by my cube at work.

To the rest of you. As usual, more Swap Meet salvages:

Then it was onto the big school project sale, spoken of earlier.

Saturday morning was reserved for soccer games. And Saturday afternoon resumed my search for green fire. I’ve made my own, using alcohol as a base fuel.

However, I’ve become increasingly concerned with the safety of the stuff. Both from fumes and from, well, to put it bluntly, kinda sorta burning a couple of my torches…

So, I heard there was a commercial product using oil. Figured I’ld give it a try in the torches. And, the company listed Rainbow Gardens as a retailer. So, my poor kids got thrown in the car.

First, we stopped by Valley Nursery to pick up a couple pots of decorative grass, for use on Halloween as well as making an easy-to-care-for flower bed along the fenceline.

Then, off to a couple stores in a futile attempt to find some wire clothes hangers. Guess I’ll just have to buy a bail of wire.

Then to Rainbow Gardens, where, we came up completely empty. They sell the birthday candles that burn colors, but not the oil. However, the nice folks at Planet Rainbow had a tiny oil lamp set. One green, one purple, one red. They are looking into getting in just the replacement oil for me.

And, what weekend would be complete without the trip to the swap meet. Where else can you find dirt cheap hair extensions of questionable cleanliness? For my use, who cares if it’s clean.

One man’s junk…

Boy, do I love the swap meet.

For those that don’t know, there’s a swap meet down at the drive-in every Saturday and Sunday. Think flee market, or a whole bunch of garage sales rolled into one location. Saturday is really not too exciting, most folks go on Sunday. And, it’s become a tradition for me, the boys, and Talia to go down and peruse over what people have laid out. We usually meet up with my parents and wander around.

This past weekend was the first REAL opportunity we’ve had this year, due to weather.

Walked away with a case of Loctite Power Grab. This stuff is KEY to my being able to build halloween stuff. Years ago, we bought some at the old house to fix some paneling on the shower that was coming off. So, we found this stuff in a “tub and surround” format, and figured it would do the job.

Nope. Humidity kept it wet for a week, and we ended up using a competitive product instead. So here I was with a half a tube of the stuff when my uncle found the little bone that’s now atop my staff. I was wondering how to attach the thing, looking around at what I had available, and there was this half a tube of crap, may as well use it up, it worked great for adhering the bone to the wood.

A year later, I’m making the pelvis bone mask, and needed to build a top piece to make it fit my head and allow me to glue a wig on. Power grab worked so well on the staff, why not here? I discovered you could manipulate the stuff quite well if you got your fingers wet, mold it, push it around.

It was the following year we pushed it to the limits. A cow skull, some screen to fill in gaps, a couple tubes of power grab, and a bucket of water.

Blends right in with the bone…
Even sculpted large sections of the thing with the stuff.

All in all, it turned out much different than the original design idea, but quite well at the same time. Made as a response to too many wee ones being too scared by the first mask, this one was a bit too far the other way and no one was really scared.

We tried again to use it for it’s intended purpose when we remodeled the kids’ bedrooms. Figured maybe it just wasn’t cut out to be in a bathroom setting. Tried to put a simple piece of moulding up. No luck.

But, it takes paint really well. Last year’s mask was made of not but some clay covered in this power grab. Shown here in a rare work-in-progress stage with a lower jaw piece that never quite made it. We couldn’t get the latex to dry fast enough to have it attached to my face. It looked fine just the upper part, however.

So, walking away with an entire case of the stuff for less than half price was a major victory. I can’t blame someone for getting rid of the stuff either. My experience is it really is nothing but high quality white glue. It’s intended use as a construction material is highly suspect in my opinion. However, as a craft glue, it’s great. I’ve even got some sloshing around in the garage as I attempt to get a recipe for paper mache out of the stuff, and it’s looking QUITE promising.

The other major victory came in the form of some old bottles. Dirty, crusty, old, bottles. Normally these sell for $1 a piece at the swap meet as they are collectibles. I got a whole box, more than a dozen for $2. I’m not collecting them for any normal display, but rather for an idea that is a year or two away from fruition yet. “The lemonade stand from hell” as one person put the idea. But, more on that at a later time.

Also, a small personal triumph. After struggling for a couple days, I managed to fiddle with some HTML crap and get a working countdown clock up in the corner there, instead of having to link to someone else’s. I’ve always preferred the mysterious clock rather than stating the obvious “till halloween” after. I get questioned every year what the sign in the yard is for. Always makes me smile when someone has to ask.