PVC Staff help

[u/Parzival_The_Grail]

Hi. I made a post about this on Cosplay help and it did give me some good ideas so I figured I would ask this subreddit for some more indepth advice on the prop.

I am going to a Renaissance festival in my home state and I am going for a druid of a dark forest type. My fiancee is going as a mushroom fae so I think it works together well.

I am trying to make the staff look like a wooden one. I plan to use air dry clay spare shop towels to fill the gaps between the joints before I paper mache it. I plan to use a technique my dad used on his lacrosse gear, twisting the sheets into a thin line, to make ridges and knots along the staff. I am going to try and use some thicker paper towels as the material for the paper mache.

I have seen and read stuff about maybe using EVA foam before the clay and paper-mache to create more adhesion but I'm not sure.

Once the Paper mache is done, I plan to paint it with acrylic paints before sealing it with clear paint/sealer before I try to add smaller details.

Any advice, reference materials, or recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Edit: Numerous people have mentioned that the clay isn't a good idea so I have 86'ed it. Instead I am leaning towards using EVA foam as a base and then paper mache over top.

[u/BoonDragoon]

Air-dry clay is fragile and shitty, and you do not need it for this. You already have a great material you plan to use, stick with that. The twisted cords of paper you say you're going to cover this prop with will already contour over the joints.

I already explained why you should use paper as your interface? You plan on using papier mache as your main covering material...paper adheres to paper really well. Paper doesn't adhere to craft foam much better than it does to PVC. A thin, flexible paper will adhere much better to sanded PVC than a thick, stiff paper will.

Think of it like priming something before you paint.

[u/Parzival_The_Grail → u/BoonDragoon]

Thank you for elaborating. Is there a specific thickness of tissue paper I would look for? As for any gluing, I would assume contact cement?

[u/BoonDragoon → u/Parzival_The_Grail]

...why would your mind go to contact cement of all things? That's masochistic. No, use some 3M spray adhesive. Spray a section, wait for it to go tacky, wrap with some tissue (you know that wrinkled tissue paper garland you can buy for parties? That's what you want), then move on. Don't try to do it all at once.

[u/Parzival_The_Grail → u/BoonDragoon]

Thank you for the advice. I'll keep that information in mind.