I would think you could, I have thought of that too. I made a hat once out of paper mache by molding it over a balloon,( you could vary the size that way) , and it was pretty strong. As long as you waterproof it with some non -toxic material. I used a water based white craft glue, and it dried clear and fairly hard. If you use a thick enough paper, like brown kraft paper, that would work even better. It might even look natural if you used brown paper.
