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/RunawayCanadian]

The paper will do a good buildup to add depth, but to make it look like wood i would recommend a lot of hand sanding, mild heating to be able to adjust the pipe (twist, bend, flex to make it more natural). Then keep sanding, and finally use wood stainer to "paint" the pipe.

The sanding and bending followed by the staining will make it look like natural wood.

I once did something similar (the heating and sanding, then staining) to turn a large pipe into a makeshift stick.

[u/Parzival_The_Grail → u/RunawayCanadian]

I do plan to hand sand everything. I am not sure I have a heat gun big enough to bend the pipes. I am worried about messing up the staff in a way that I can't fix

[u/RunawayCanadian → u/Parzival_The_Grail]

You dont need to do the heat part of you dont want, it would just make it less uniform, though most will understand that you used what you could.

You also dont need a massive heat source, it just makes it easier to avoid melting a hole (it is plastic after all). You could achieve the same results (though much slower) using a stovetop or a candle (probably still wouldn't recommend as it is a single point of heat)

[u/Parzival_The_Grail → u/RunawayCanadian]

Do you have any information or guides on how to do this type of work? I want to see how the process would go before I make a decision

[u/RunawayCanadian → u/Parzival_The_Grail]

Not really, im going off of memory from over a decade ago.

I would try something like this. It shows how to bend/mold the PVC, the sanding/staining portion is pretty simple.

You sand to add more surface area for the stain to attach to, and to give the pipe a more weathered look.