Kind-Of Paper Mached Antlers

I really wanted a papier mache deer head from West Elm (the top left below to be exact), but I am super cheap and my husband is even cheaper so I decided to take a shot at making my own. 

I made mine quite a bit bigger than West Elms since I wanted it to make a statement in my daughter's room. Here is what I did:

 Start with construction paper.
Crinkle and smash the paper into the shape you want it to be. I made the head cave in to look more like a skull and then made the antlers separate.
Tape it all up into one solid piece. You want to use enough paper and tape so your sculpture is sturdy, not at all flimsy.
Rip more paper in thin strips to use as the top layer.
SOOO...my first attempt, I used a water/flour/salt/Elmers glue combo. FAIL. It was sloppy and ended up moldy.
I started all over and then ended up dipping my thin, ripped strips of paper in mod podge. I really like the finished look. It wasn't too messy and I only had to wait about 15 minutes between layers of paper strips.

Have you ever paper mached something? Like beyond elementary school? What "glue" mixture did you use?