As much as 'how' to make & work with the the perfect paper mache be it pulps or strips or both is & always will be an on going debate but just HOW many artists then go on to dry their projects can be as much as a debate too. I have used as many drying methods myself as anyone else may have such as: radiator drying on & suspended above or in front of. Air drying by standing in a corner at floor level or suspended in a corner of a warm or cool room. Even simply standing smaller items in front of my small 6" desk fan as i worked. ALL of these methods & any others many artists have tried work perfectly fine either for the artist or the materials (glues & papers etc) used in projects or the climates they live in. The real debate at hand in ALL cases is just how fast any artist can get a project to dry & do so without being troubled by warpping along the way.
Warpping in some cases is simply unavoidable especially with thin or large & thin projects even more so when using ANY external heat source. Using an external heat source alone is not the whole problem how ever uneven layers of strips or pulps (thicknesses over a wide surface) combine to increasing the chances of warpping during the drying period. Slow steady controlled air drying ie; Standing a project to be dried in an open space (indoors or outdoors) at first seems like the perfect soloution & in the natural scheme of things it more than likely is too. How ever indoor & outdoor temperatures can change radically through out the day. add to this a cold or damp climate can slow down or even change both drying times & the results on the project too. In the end it all comes down to chance!.
The need then is to get a project dried as quickly as possible without using heat to attempt to restrict as much warpping whilst achieving as much drying as possible in the shortest possible time along the way. I thnik i may have a very simple soloution to this age old problem & debate. A soloution that CAN be cheaply constructed since 'most' artists will have 90% of the required materials at hand at any given time. Also this method i am about to show you CAN be easily employed by vertually anyone with little to no technical skills, not loosing or altering the original function or the asthetic appearance of equipment used too radically either after use. The whole drying chamber construction i am about to show you is based on & around an every day simple house hold oscillating 16 inch fan.
MATERIALS REQUIRED:
1] A 16 INCH STAND FAN (or as large as you have or can afford).
2] A 60cm x 40cm x 3cm CHIPBOARD OR PLYWOOD SCRAP OF WOOD.
3] A 20cm x 20cm x 3cm CHIPBOARD OR PLYWOOD SCRAP OF WOOD.
4] 1 MATCHING CHROMED METAL TUBE LIKE THE EXISTING FANS STAND TUBE (Or a spare from an old broken fan).
5] 2 CARDBOARD FOIL INNER TUBES APPROXIMATELY 2cms IN DIAMETER.
6] 4 SCREWS (Same width as the larger sheet of wood).
7] 1 PHILIPS OR CROSS HEAD SCREW DRIVER.
8] 1 LARGE PLASTIC BAG (wheelie bin/trash can size).
9] 2 OR 3 LARGE ELASTIC BANDS.
CONSTRUCTING THE DRYING CHAMBER:
Start by removing the upper 'fan unit' from the stand then remove the 2 metal cross over feet & plastic shroud (screw cover at the base of the stand) covering the feet.
Using the existing four pilot holes in the metal base of the stands column use your replacement screws (the same length as the wooden board is deep) to fasten your fan stand 'base' to one edge of the wooden sheet. Fix the fan stand base to one of the thinner 'ends' of your wooden sheet so it becomes a long foot. If you want you can paint the wood to clean it up or simply cover it in coloured plastic etc to suit it's future surroundings.
To make a 90 degree bracket cut your smaller piece of wood diagnally into two even triangles. For this section i did not have a spare piece of wood to make it. Instead i used two 20cm x 22cm x 2cm polistyrene triangles which i then shaped & glued togther using pure unilluted PVA glue. To give my bracket some needed strength i then covered this in 2 layers of 140gsm layers of paper. Once dried i then covered that in 2 layers of news print.
Next measure & cut your two cardboard foil inner tubes to the right length to match both the 'straight' edges of your triangular bracket. These will be where you will insert the 'chrome' fan stand tubes later. If your cardboard inner tubes are too big allowing the chromed metal tubes from the fan to move around loosely then simply cut down the length of each cardboard inner tube & remove a small section of tubing. Tape the tubing closed along it's length to form two NEW thinner tubes.
Now fix the cardboard foil inner tubes to the flat sides of your triangular bracket. Hot glue will make a strong enough bond for now. Be careful if you have never used a hot glue gun befor they CAN give nasty burns.
Next i covered the tubes & the bracket completly in 8 layers of 80gsm white printer paper & left it to dry FULLY. I will be sanding it down at a later point & spray painting it to match the white paint finish on the original fan parts.
Now using either an old spare chromed tube from an old broken fan or a new length of chromed tubing build up your fan as shown below.
Now switch on the fan on it's highest setting to check your fans stability. If you have the NEW wooden 'foot' around 60cms+ long stability should not be an issue. If you are using a larger fan than 16 inches then you will need to fit a bigger (longer) foot to the base.
Now i have not shown the drying 'chamber' here as black on black does not show up on camera too well lol. Now take your large plastic bag & cut off the sealed end (the bottom of the bag). Fit 2/3 of your elastic bands around the rim of the fans protective wire guard (where the two halves clip together). You may need help with the next bit. Feed around 3/4 cms of one of the open ends of the plastic bag 'over' the rim of the fans guard then pull the elastic bands over the edge of the plastic bag to 'pin' it in place.
Next cut the plastic bag around 3/4cms 'short' of touching the ground. As much as you require the open 'back' of the fans wire guard to draw in the air you also require the plastic bag to have a space from the ground to allow for the forced air from the fan to escape at a controlled rate too & as evenly as possible. This way a 'constant' & 'even' air flow will be maintaind' as it flows over your drying project(s).
Once you have made the triangular bracket the whole process of converting the fan into the drying chamber takes only minutes. As too once you have finished drying a project or projects for the day returning the fan from a fixed drying chamber back into a standard fully functioning oscillating fan unit only takes minutes again. Pull off the elastics & the plastic bag, take the 'upper' chromed tubbing out the upper fan unit, pull off the triangular bracket, fasten the upper fan unit to the original chromed tubbing in the stand base - voila' your drying chamber becomes a standard room fan again!. Apart from the new wooden foot you added once this has been suitably decorated along with the triangular bracket the drying chamber in it's original fan form can stand in the corner of virtually any room, be functional & not look too out of place.
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