How Can I Make Papercrete?

The easiest way to make Papercrete is with a special mixer designed for the purpose. You can make small batches in your kitchen blender or food processor, to get an idea of the process and experiment with recipes.

The process looks like this: In a mixer (blender, processor or special Papercrete mixer), first fill partly with water. Add paper of just about any kind - newspaper, office stationery, old magazines, even cardboard boxes - and blend or mix to shred the paper and mix it with water. If you ever made paper mache, this will look familiar. What you have is wet paper pulp. If you add some Portland cement and mix again, you'll have Papercrete mix. It should not be too runny, just liquid enough to pour into a waiting form or mold or whatever.

If you intend to make a lot of Papercrete, you will need a mixer made for the purpose. The easiest solution, by far, is the Tow-Mixer. Why? Because you can make it very inexpensively in one day from easily-available parts, and because it combines the functions of mixer and dispenser - very handy if you plan to make blocks or panels. You mix up a batch and then pour (dispense) the mix into forms or molds. By the time you have another batch ready, the first pour has settled, and so the forms can be moved for the next pour. If you make a mixer which only mixes, then you need other equipment to get the mix to the forms. Watch a movie about papercrete and the Tow-mixer here.

The DVD shown on this web site describes in great detail how to make your own Tow-mixer which will allow you to make not only Papercrete but many other fibrous mixes, like fibrous adobe. More on the DVD here.

See the process clearly in a movie.

More ways to make Papercrete in the FAQ.

See Tow-Mixer