Large (paper and glue only) substructure help ?

[spidermanc]

Hey guys, I'm a student at Savannah College of Art and Design. My 3D design professor has assigned a project where we have to morph a living organism with any accessory that has ever been worn on a human body before. For example, an octopus crossed with a gas mask. Basically the air intakes of the mask became the tentacles and the actual body of the octopus sat on top of the students head. (not my idea, a previous students work)

As you can imagine these projects get quite large, so it's all about different substructures.

The only restrictions are that the students can only use [anything that was once made out of] paper and any types of adhesives.

I'm just curious if anyone could throw out some different methods for creating paper substructures, and what types of paper materials and adhesives would be best. Right now I plan to use cardboard for the substructure, but i'm interested in ideas for long narrow curvy pieces.. or pieces that would need to hold 150 lbs of weight, such as if I were making stilts and had to stand on it.

Thanks (=

 

[exoray]

Paper mache, phenolic like laminates are two goo sub-straights to start with...

As for making stilts you can easily hold up 150lbs by just taking newspaper and tightly rolling it up into a rod... Use a 'glue' like epoxy or polyester resin as you roll the newspaper up and you will have an incredibly strong structure... I would advise against an air dry binder like Elmer's glue for this application as it will take way too long for the inner wraps to dry and cure....

 

[JBomm]

I'd recommend a build up block style structure. corrugated glued together over and over however wide you want it. The strength comes from the corrugates being open at the top and bottom. Vertical.

Or a Partition.

both of these have amazing support and can Easily hold 150 lbs.

 

[spidermanc]

I'd recommend a build up block style structure. corrugated glued together over and over however wide you want it. The strength comes from the corrugates being open at the top and bottom. Vertical.

Or a Partition.

both of these have amazing support and can Easily hold 150 lbs.

Thanks JBomm. I decided to use the partition method.

I've got the animal made out of this method, now I'm trying to figure out a way to cover him so it's solid. Any suggestions?