Here's some shots of the altar in progress. Avery provuided the upper part built from guitar boxes. I added to them a bit in the front, then built the base out of boxes gleaned from dumpster-diving around Burbank. Ah, the joys of dumpster-diving! It took the better part of an afternoon to build it. It needs to hold a lot of candles and dressing, so it required some structural bracing.
Then it got paper-mache-ed, using red roofing paper and flour paste. In the tradition of Italian, shell makers, I like to cook the flour paste in a ratio of one to four flour and water, by weight. This makes a gelatinous glue, and after soaking the paper in it thoroughly before applying, makes a wood-hard object.

The paper was laid down in large sheets, overlapping half by half, making a skin of about 6 layers. Not very thick, but still, hard as wood. After 3 to 4 days of drying, it'll be ready to paint.