How do you papier mache smoothly?

Question:I am sticking newspaper strips over a round balloon but in a bit of a pear shape, and it's pretty much hard and come out in the shape I want. However, I will be painting directly over it and I think there are a lot of creases and wrinkles. How do I make it smooth? Is there a way to sand it, or anything? I don't mind relayering.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I am sticking newspaper strips over a round balloon but in a bit of a pear shape, and it's pretty much hard and come out in the shape I want. However, I will be painting directly over it and I think there are a lot of creases and wrinkles. How do I make it smooth? Is there a way to sand it, or anything? I don't mind relayering.

If you are going to sand it try a very fine sand paper, when you do add layers of paper try making them relatively small so the wont form bumps.
with the final few layers try using the paper from an old phone book, gives a smoother finish as opposed to newspaper...hope this helps

after putting the paper and pasty liquid layers, you can, while it is still totally wet, smooth over the whole thing with more pasty mix. this will smooth it considerably. you could also varnish it, once painted, which gives a smoother look.have fun!

You can put a layer or two of wall compoud on the surface, let it dry, and then use sandpaper to make it smooth.