Forming paper into shapes is probably the most fun out of all the paper making stuff because it takes on a third dimension. And the sky is literally the limit with this. Only your imagination will hold you back!

And it is so easy to do!

This is a continuation of my intermediate tutorial on how to make paper. The beginning is here.

This picture shows the tent that we make in this tutorial. It is part of a series of tents that will go on the Storm The Castle Diorama

This is one of the beautiful things about making your own paper. You have a lot of control over it. You can make it thinner, thicker, larger, smaller, more of a fabric feel etc. You can control all the aspects of it. And while it is wet you can form it into any variety of shapes.

The first thing you do is make your mold. It is a durable object that can be used over and over if desired.

We want it to be sort of like tent fabric so we are making a sheet of paper that has two tablespoons of cotton linters and some scraps of brown paper bag. The brown paper bag is to thin it out a little bit but also to give it a color tint.

Blend the mixture with plenty of water until it is nice and pulpy.

Pour that mixture into the mold and let most of the water drain out.

Dry it out of most of the water on couching paper or felt, pressing it firmly. You don't want to dry it. Just make it workable. So it will still be very moist, just not soaking wet.

Depending on your mold and what you are trying to make you can apply the full sheet or you can cut it into pieces and apply the pieces. This is a bit of a complex build so we cut it into several pieces.

At any point during the molding you can wet your hand and moisten the paper. You can also spray it lightly with a spray bottle.

There you go! The paper is completely applied to the mold. Now let it dry!

Once it is dry use small tools to gently lift it up off the mold. It is paper so be careful.

You can see the various paper tent molds we made here. The one in the front has had it's dried tent removed (on the left).

The Storm The Castle Diorama - This is a big seven foot diorama that is a castle siege scene. Long term project and I have been at it sinch March of 2013 You can track the progress and learn lots of castle making/diorama making techniques along with this diorama. The Storm The Castle diorama

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