The literal translation of the French term “papier-mâché” is “chewed paper.” That’s because – you guessed it – it was originally made from chewed up paper (If only we had known that in elementary school!) Papier-mâché is made of ripped or mashed paper, occasionally reinforced with other materials, and bound with adhesive, like glue or paste. Highly pliable when it is wet and very hard when it is dry, it is essentially a method of using paper to produce durable three-dimensional objects. The French term comes from the 18th century, when the technique became popular in Western Europe, but the first instances of papier-mâché actually go all the way back to ancient times.

DwellStudio's papier-mâché animal heads