ABSTRACT
Papier-mâché, in French, literally means chewed paper. It is more popularly understood to be a composite material (i.e., a material made out of two separate constituent materials; in this case paper and glue). The combination produces material properties unavailable from the individual constituent materials. Astonishing about papier-mâché, for example, as a composite material, is the way that rather flimsy stuff, such as paper, can be transformed, through a process of admixture with glue, into extremely hard and, therefore, durable object forms.
