At the last minute, I got nervous about going without any webbing. I didn't want to go the cardboard-strip-and-hot-glue route as I figured that would add a lot of weight. Instead, I decided to go with some strategically placed bits of blue-tape. I figure it only has to stay in place long enough to get the shell in place and dry...we'll see if that's a bad theory.
So then papier-mâché...brought back a lot of memories of high school art class (including the redhead that taught it). A few lessons came back with rather jarring results. For instance, make your bits of paper too big, and try to cover as much form as possible without providing enough overlap, and the whole thing just slides down into a sticky mass at the base. Weight versus surface area, you gotta keep that in balance. For paste, I went with the 50% white glue and 50% water recipe. It seemed to work okay from a saturation/tackiness perspective, but I won't know how structurally strong it is until it dries. I used paper bags from the market, well crumpled (to break down the structure of the paper), and torn into strips, not cut (you need that feathered edge from a tear to get things to bond nicely).
I only did half of it, figuring I wanted to see the results in case I need to alter the process/recipe or just tear it off and go with Plan B (plaster cloth). My artist friend tells me you need to do a couple of layers.
By now you're probably thinking I'm a masochist. I'm almost inclined to agree with you.
