History of Papier Mache by Jackie Hall, 2002

Despite the French sounding name, papier mache was not made in France until the mid 17th century. However, they were the first country in Europe to do so.

Papier mache actually originates from China; the inventors of paper itself. They used papier mache to make helmets of all things, which they toughened by many layers of lacquer. Examples have been found dating back to the Han Dynasty (BC 202 – AD 220).

From China, the interest in papier mache spread to Japan and Persia, where it was used in mask making and festival activities. Eventually it spread across the world. Large imports of papier mache objects swamped European markets. This in turn led France to start making its own wares, and England followed suit in the 1670s. There was only a half-hearted interest until the late 1700s and into the 1800s, when it became widely used.

This little black lacquer pot is typical of the many oriental imported papier mache items. It has three turned up feet and a lid. The decoration is painted on in gold. The pot is from my own collection.

Black lacquer pot Closeup

This photo shows close-up detail of the fish decoration.

Papier Mache (French for “chewed paper”) is believed to have got its name from French workers in London papier mache shops who did just that! Whether this is actually true or not we shall probably never know. The manufacturers didn’t seem to mind this idea being put about - possibly because it gave them the chance to hide their true methods and recipes, some of which little is known about even today.

In 1740 the manufacturer John Baskerville, well known for his fine quality books and typefounding, began to imitate the lacquered pieces from Japan. This is how the term “japanning” came about. His business was very successful and later his assistant Henry Clay, invented a way to produce papier mache so strong that it was equally as durable as wood. He did this by gluing specially prepared paper under heat to form tough, heat resistant panels.

Henry Clay had taken out a patent on his invention, but when this ran out; small companies mushroomed, producing just about everything from papier mache. They were mostly concentrated in the Birmginham and Wolverhampton areas. It is from these companies that we get the beautifully decorated black enameled pieces that are so treasured today.

An Englishman – a Northamtonshire Quaker, who was a leading expert in the art of japanning, introduced papier Mache into America. His name was William Allgood and he started up the Litchfield Manufacturing Company. He met with great success in his venture and the company became well known for its fabulously decorated clock cases.

Papier Mache lived on in America more as a craft form rather than a manufacturing material. Women started to make useful and decorative household objects. In the 1960’s a bit more papier mache interest was injected by a New York artist called Gemma, who while working with her husband in Mexico managed to stir up a lot of interest amongst Mexican artists who were inspired by her work and later even taught by her. This is despite Mexico’s long history of using papier mache for festivals and traditions, which are still going on today. Papier Mache Recipes

Although strictly speaking the correct definition of papier mache is paper fibres and binding agent, there have been some wild and wonderful ingredients used in the past:

Resin ...was sometimes used to give a smooth surface.

Potash ...was used to neutralize the acidity of the pulp or to act as a deterrent against insects and rodents.

Tobacco leaves ...were sometimes used by German dollmakers.

Kolioquinte (bitter cucumber) ...was used for its purging action.

Garlic ...became an insect repellent.

Cinnamon or cloves ...were added to eliminate the smell of garlic!

Leather pairings ...Samuel Hooper took out a patent in 1795 to make various articles from leather parings.

Isinglass …(a pure form of gelatine). Used in Britain as a bonding agent for their dolls heads.

Rags ...were sometimes used by doll makers.

Rice flour ...favoured in India

Rye meal ...favoured in Germany

Mashed potato ...Can you believe it? This was sometimes added in 19th Century Britain (yuk!)

Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower ...it gets worse doesn’t it! Johnson and Maloney (British) had a patent on this recipe. The binder used was usually glue-water although honey water was sometimes used. Boiling dry animal glue in water until it reached a thick, syrupy stage made glue-water.

Luckily for us today, we can go down to the D.I.Y. store and buy a bag of wallpaper paste!

Doll heads were extensively made in England and France. They were made in a mould that had a wooden core down the middle. These were made as early as the 16th century in France and by 1810 were in mass production. They are highly collectable today.

By 1860 papier mache production had reached its peak. England was still producing a lot of wares, while still importing vast amounts from China. The market became saturated leading to a decline in popularity. Competition from new materials helped the papier mache industry die a death. The final British manufacturer, McCallum and Hodson, closed in 1920.

Papier mache is still used today in theatre and stage productions as it makes excellent trees and rocks for scenery being so light and easy to move. Some countries such as Mexico still use papier mache a lot. History of Mexican Papier Mache Sculpture

The course that inspired me to start this sculptural form of Papier Mache was based on an original sculptural Mexican style started earlier this century and now world famous with exhibits found in major museums and art galleries worldwide.

Pedro Linares (1906-1992) was the original creator of a bestiary of mythical, dragon-like beasts made from reeds or wire, paper, paint and an inspired imagination. It is said that Pedro Linares had an amazing dream whilst recovering from an illness in which these fantastical creatures appeared.

They called these creatures "Alebrijes".

Popular artists such as the Linares in Mexico are known as " cartoneros " Pedro Linares created and subsequent generations now create alebrijes which include fantastical dragons, beasts and winged fish on legs, floral decorated skulls, devils and skeleton figures.

Although many other Mexican craft shops sell items described as "Alebrijes" it is the Linares families and further generations thereof who produce the true "alebrijes". Pedro's sons and grandsons now continue the tradition and their works are widely collected.

The "alebrijes" are still made with the same method to this day. All alebrijes are basically created in this manner. However, the most important factor is the imaginative vision of the artists to produce such original fantastical creatures.

The process is quite simple : an armature is made from reed or wire in the shape of the final body. To build up certain areas newspaper can be taped on when dry before adding the glued layers. A home-made paste is produced using flour heated up in boiling water. Sheets of plain brown paper or newspaper are added in layers to cover the frame until it is firm. This may take some time as some of these creatures are extremely large. The figure then has to dry thoroughly.

In Mexico, the sunny weather speeds up this process. All sorts of wondrous extremities are then added including wings, horns, tails, fierce teeth, bulgy eyes and a whole host of other creative additions. The final figure is painted white. Then is the time for the colourful painting. The Linares use brushes of cat hair to achieve the fine lines.

Colours which would normally clash are painted side by side in intricate patterns and produce stunning results. The attention to detail is quite amazing with a series of repeated scales, and intricate patterns including tear drops wiggly lines and series of dots. A steady hand and eye is a must to produce such a carefully detailed vision of colour.

These "alebrijes" are now transported all over the world and the bigger ones may be made in sections that fit together to aid transport. In 1990 the Mexican Government awarded Pedro Linares the National Prize for Popular Arts and Traditions (Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes en la Rama VI, Artes y Tradiciones Populares). The work of the Linares is now being avidly collected by European and American museums and collectors.

In London, at the Museum of Mankind, papier mâché figures by Felipe and Leonardo were included in the exhibition "The Skeleton and the Feast: the Day of the Dead in Mexico" (1991-1993). This included a huge installation entitled "The Atomic Apocalypse: Will Death Die?" showing the figures of Famine, War, Pestilence and Death presiding over a selection of scenes depicting the evils of the modern world. There are also examples of their art at the Gallery of Modern Art (Glasgow), St Mungo's Museum of Religion Glasgow and The Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

In 1992 Felipe and Leonardo were artists in residence at the Museum of Mankind, during which they created a giant "alebrije" and a 3 metre high "Judas" figure complete with skull masks for the Museum's permanent collection.

In 1996 Felipe Linares Mendoza and his sons Felipe and Leonardo created a large installation entitled "The Seven Deadly Sins" for the new Museum of Art in Glasgow. Each scene was represented by a flying "alebrije" and by a group of skeleton figures. Part of the "The Atomic Apocalypse: Will Death Die?" sculpture was on display at the British Museum this year in an exhibition called "Living and Dying "where I took these photos. The exhibition explored festivals for the dead, the spirit world, the earth and how people deal with death through burial and mourning, how they provide for the dead in their afterlife and how in some places people draw on ancestors to assist them in the world of the living. Victorian Papier Mache by Jackie Hall ©2002

The Victorians loved to experiment with new materials and one of their favourites was papier mache. By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne, there were at least 25 companies producing papier mache items.

The most common pieces are trays, workboxes, inkstands, face screens, snuff boxes and letter holders. Eventually they moved on to larger items and furniture such as firescreens, chairs and tables, bookcases – even wardrobes and beds!

Nearly always the characteristic black, but occasionally in red or green, the pieces were very ornately decorated with flowers, birds and patterns – frequently embellished in gold. Some of the finer pieces were inlaid with shimmering mother-of-pearl shell.

Jennings and Bettridge are the name most people associate with this period. The Birmingham company had shops in New York as well as London; producing some of the finest papier mache items of all time. Many are now prized collector’s items or museum pieces today. Papier Mache Production

The making of papier mache items, in particular the pieces of furniture, involved many hours of work and relied upon an almost limitless supply of cheap labour. Very large sheets of black paper were pasted on both sides and firmly pressed over greased moulds. (After having been dipped in large shallow vats of tar spirit and linseed oil). Care was taken to smooth out the surface and remove any trapped air bubbles.

After 2 or 3 layers had been applied, the edges would be trimmed and the item baked in a hot oven. The object would be built up in this way, continually repeating the three layers and baking until the final thickness was met. Some articles had as many as 100 layers of paper by the time they were finished!

Papier mache dolls have been around for a few hundred years. They can be in the form of puppets, including hand, string and larger than life size, baby dolls, fashion dolls, boy dolls and the creche dolls made for the Christmas crib scenes. In doll language it is material of the head which defines the whole doll so a papier-mache doll need only have a head that is actually made from papier mache and the body can be made of cloth, leather, wood or composition.

Papier mache dolls come under the collective term of composition which also includes celluloid and numerous others. It is sometimes hard to know when a doll is made of papier mache or composition but in general terms papier mache dolls are basically made of paper pulp plus other substances whilst composition dolls are made from wood pulp plus other substances. Confusion still reigns as some dolls’ bodies are referred to as composition when in fact they are made from papier mache.

In a late 19th century dictionary papier mache is defined as “a tough plastic material made from paper pulp containing an admixture of size, paste, oil, resin or other substances or from sheets of paper glued and pressed together”.

One of the first references to papier mache dolls can be found in the Histoire des Jouets et Jeux D’enfants by Fournier where it seems that from the time of Francis 1 of France (ca.1540) doll makers always used a mixture of clays, paper and plaster called carton-pierre (literally stone pasteboard). This mixture was worked together and pressed into molds, backed by coarse paper and dried by steam. By the 18th century German communities, including Sonneberg and Nurnberg, were making papier mache dolls alongside the towns of France.

Around 1810 it was discovered that papier-mache dolls could be mass produced cheaply in moulds by a pressure process. As the dolls were mainly made of waste materials they could be produced quite cheaply.

One account of the doll making process states that when released from the molds the papier mache heads were smoothed, the two halves joined with glue and then the whole was painted with a mixture of limewash and ground colours and allowed to dry. The eyes, lips and hair were then painted and a coat of varnish applied. Whilst the cheeks were still sticky they were painted with fine carmine or Florentine lacquer. Sometimes, to save money, the coat of varnish was left off. This made the dolls head almost impossible to clean.

By the 1820’s papier mache heads were used extensively on a body made of kid leather which had carved wooden limbs. These dolls were known as milliners models or coiffure dolls - in fact an early form of fashion doll and by the mid 19th century the papier mache dolls had reached the height of their popularity.

In 1858 Ludwig Greiner, a famous dollmaker, patented a doll’s head which used white paper, Spanish whiting, rye flour, glue and paste reinforced with linens and muslin.

Around 1870 papier mache began to be used for jointed bodies which were used well into the 20th century. Soon, however, ceramic and other types of composition heads were to become more popular and the demand for papier-mache heads began to decline.

Papier-mache doll heads could have closed mouths or open mouths with teeth made form bamboo, painted eyes or inserted glass eyes, bald heads with wigs made from mohair or human hair or elaborately moulded hairstyles in the fashions of the day. Sometimes these hairstyles were so involved that they were made from 8-10 part molds all skilfully joined together. The doll’s heads themselves could be attached to wood, cloth, leather, papier-mache or composition bodies.

Many of these charming dolls survive today and make interesting additions to collections whether they are in doll, social history or papier-mache collections.