16:39 Feb 1, 2011 

Just out of interest, what term would you use for papier-mâché? Here in Mexico it's called cartonería, I believe, and it's something I've had problems translating myself in the past...

15:49 Feb 1, 2011 

Just for the record, I'm a Spaniard myself, and I have never used cartón piedra to refer to papier maché. Maybe it's a local thing in Valencia, debido al influjo de las Fallas, but in my area cartón piedra has always been hardboard...

15:45 Feb 1, 2011 

Plenty of Spaniards seem to think it refers to decorative papier-mâché...especially in Valencia!! See my refs below, which basically agree with Charles, though there are even those who use it to refer to plasterboard (which would make some sense given the difference that seems to given vis-à-vis 'normal' papier-mâché is that it has plaster mixed in with the engrudo (flour and water)...)

15:44 Feb 1, 2011 

Agree with Charles.
Fortunately we have to translate to English, and we have a picture of the thing, so the confusion regarding what cartón piedra actually is, is not that important here after all! ;-)

John, dictionaries are evil!

15:43 Feb 1, 2011 

It appears in the dictionary as paper maché.

15:35 Feb 1, 2011 

There is a lot of confusion about what just what cartón piedra is. Peter's source is Spanish, and the illustration in his link looks like hardboard to me; it is certainly not any kind of papier maché. And yet "cartón piedra" does also mean a form of hardened papier maché containing plaster and oil. This makes it very hard, and also mouldable (before it sets) for making figures, such as the Fallas in Valencia, which are (or were) made of cartón piedra on a wooden frame and are certainly not made of hardboard, which comes in flat sheets as in Peter's picture. This is the DRAE definition of cartón piedra: "Pasta de cartón o papel, yeso y aceite secante que luego se endurece mucho y con la cual puede hacerse toda clase de figuras."
It is not plasterboard, which is a sheet of plaster between two sheets of thick paper and is used in building.

15:27 Feb 1, 2011 

It seems to be "drywall or plasterboard".

15:04 Feb 1, 2011 

I think the papier maché meaning is applicable to some Latin American countries. In you link "cartón piedra" is used with the Spanish (Spain) meaning: hardboard.

15:01 Feb 1, 2011 

See my link for limited context, Yaiza. Thanks for your help

14:54 Feb 1, 2011 

Cartón piedra is not papier mache, it's much harder and it has different uses. I have checked in Wikipedia and I can't understand where their explanation comes from (!!).
What is the context here?