Hardening paper AT HOME! (How to?)

[Blackdavid]

Hello!

I was wondering what are all the ways you can harden paper AT HOME!

So, hardening it with anything anyone of us has in their houses, room etc.. Not bondo, fiberglass, etc..

I am making an iron man hand now, and as hard paper isn't available in my country, I have to do it in normal paper.. So its all wobbly and doesn't feel sturdy.. I was wondering, If I spray it with some spray paint, will it suck the paint in and harden, or will the paint just dry off and crack?

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Just using plain printer paper won't really harden up with much. Spray paint will most likely make it soggy

 

[Blackdavid]

I Have done the palm part of the hand in the same printer paper, and coated with 2 coats of wood glue(the white one, transparent when its dry, i dunno what its called) and now it somewhat resembles plastic at its touch, so I can bondo it and lastly fiberglass it. But now I am out of wood glue, and everything related to hobbies and DIY is insanely expensive in my country, SO that will have to wait a bit.. any ideas?

 

[PukkaLemons]

What do you mean by not available?

 

[laellee]

What do you mean by not available?

I'm with PukkaLemons, what do you mean not available? Heavier stock paper goes by a lot of different names (and types), you may have it available to you and not realize it.

 

[TheFrankTurk]

Plain 20# paper won't harden. Mat board can be dampened, shaped, and then treated with 2-part epoxy or normal wood glue to gain some durability. What country are you in that doesn't have poster board or mat board in an art store?

 

[Blackdavid]

I'm from Croatia. I asked in normal book stores for the 220gr paper, they don't have any.. I asked for hard paper(as I was able to describe it to the vendor) and they still didn't have it.. We don't even have the foam that USA has.. ''Foam'' here means sponge, not actual foam.. ANd I have to find my foam from that food contaners we get when we buy meat etc..

 

[PukkaLemons]

Could you not buy a pack of off amazon or somewhere. I use 160gr paper and that works enough for pepping, ive done spartan mark IV armour ( backpack, chest, abs codpeice and arms) and a spartan helmet and a bat cowl and got some paper left from a single ream.

 

[ahoudini]

Shellac will harden paper to a degree. Could build it up with multiple thin coats. Cheap so little is lost if it doesn't work like you want. Try it on your plain paper first, of course, not your finished pep!