PAPIER - MACHE, (Fr., pulped paper). A tough, plastic material. made from paper-pulp. or from paper that has been reduced to a pulp, mixed with glue, paste, oil. resin. or other sizing. It has been in use for more than a century in Europe, and it is not improbable that it was first suggested by :nine of the beautiful productions of gindh and other parts of India. where it is employed in making boxes, trays. etc.. as well as in China and Japan. Its first application, as far as we know, was to the manufacture of snatT-boxes, by a German named :Nlartin, in 1740. Properly speaking.
papier-machil is paper-pulp molded into shape, i and t has been used, not only to make small articles, such as boxes, trays. etc., but in the interior decoration of houses for ceil ing:, etc. From the extension of the application of papier-mac-hr. to the manufa,ture of a number of light and useful article,, immlifieations have taken place in its composition. and it is now
of three kinds—tirst, the troe kind. made of paper-pulp; second, sheets of paper pasted to gether after the manner of but sub. mitted to far greater pre-sure; and third. sheets of thick millboard east from the pulp, which are also heavily pressed. The terni is in the trade held to apply rather to the articles made of the pulp than to (lie pulp itself ; and a vast manufacture sprang up during the last century. Some articles are coated with successive layers of asphalt varnish. which is acted upon by heat in ovens until its volatile parts are dissipated, and it bemmes hard and capable of receiving a high polish. :\lother-of pearl is sometimes used in its decoration, and the fine surface which can be given to asphalt varnish also permits of burnished gilding and other decorative applications with excellent effect.