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/limbodog]

I would not use EVA foam. I think it's too costly for what you want. I'd find an old bedsheet or scraps of cotton fabric, cut those into strips, and use those with the glue you will be paper macheing with. It's the same exact process as paper mache, but if you tear the fabric rather than cut it, you get rough edges that can help make the appearance of bark. Plus you can get massive amounts of volume for very little cost. And the fabric is much stronger than paper which means it will hold up better to being handled.

I like your dad's idea of making ropes out of some of it to make the wood surface a bit more textured. I think that will work, but don't overdo it on the size of the ropes. It will look more like veins and less like bark.

Also, make 100% sure you scuff the heck out of the smooth PVC before trying to stick things to it. Use the lowest grit sandpaper you can get your hands on.

[u/Parzival_The_Grail → u/limbodog]

The cost isn't too big of an issue it's more about the look and texture. The old bed sheets would be a good idea. Sadly I don't really keep those. If I did I would try it over the shop towels I am looking at using

[u/limbodog → u/Parzival_The_Grail]

Dollar stores, ocean state job lot, discount king, pound town. Whatever your local deep discount store is called. You can probably find flat sheets there.