Comments on: Paper Mache Animal Sculptures – Some Basic Tips

By: Jonni

Jonni — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:54:26 +0000

Hi Roger. I hope you’ll let us see your heron when it’s done. That’s one of my favorite birds. The proportion question is difficult, especially for me, a self-taught sculptor. I suggest that you find as many photos from as many angles as you can, and keep them close as you work. Using a pattern inside the sculpture really helps me, but that only gives you one silhouette. For all other sides and angles, you need to “draw” with your material. There are tools that sculptors use for creating realistic portraits and other sculptures, but I have no experience with them.

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:53:36 +0000

I started doing art in 1997 with water colors and have worked my way to mixed media.I work with bleeding tissue paper .(its’ called Spectra Bleeding Tissue paper .Dick Blicks carries it )The paper has a vegtable dye in it and when moistened it runs and mixes to create different colors and images .I then create art from the images that I find on the support.I’ve been wanting to do sculptures for awhile but i didn’t want to get into the clay thing .I thought i would try my hand at Paper machie.I’ve made a few bowls and boxes now i’am working on a Blue heron in flight.
Jonni,Do you have any info about how to get the proportins right from a photo
I’ve been using the grid method to get the size that i want but not sure about the thickness of some parts of the Heron. THANKS for creating this site it’s really a neat site

By: Jonni

Jonni — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:13:07 +0000

Hi Jelina. I didn’t use a pattern – I just wadded up paper in the general shapes and taped them together. It’s a bit more spontaneous than using a pattern, but you have a bit less control over the final shape. In other words, you don’t always end up with exactly the shape you first had in mind, but that can be a good thing. That’s how I made the paper mache frog – although the goat kid doesn’t need the wire inside his legs because his legs are thicker than a frog’s, and the paper itself is strong enough to hold him up after adding the tape and paper mache.

By: Jelina

Jelina — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:04:01 +0000

Hi! I really love your work! And I wanna make the goat kid, it’s so cute! But do you have a pattern from the goat kid? Like the horse pattern.
Or didn’t you use a pattern? Then how did you do it?

Please let me know! I really wanna make it (once I’ve finished my exams)

Grtz Jelina

By: Jonni

Jonni — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:52:00 +0000

I think the easiest thing to do is use a cardboard pattern inside the armature, which is filled out with crumpled paper and masking tape. You can see the basic technique in the tutorial about the echidna. That way, you draw the goat on the cardboard, and after assembling all the pieces, you know the basic shape of your sculpture right from the start.

By: Allison Doumith

Allison Doumith — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:20:44 +0000

Hi Jonni,
I’m 13 years old and I LOVE your work. I have an art project to draw/make 5 different animals and one of them is a goat. I was wondering if you can do a tutorial on the goat kid you did at the top please? The project is due in 3 weeks latest. I know that is a lot to ask in such a short time. If you cannot do a tutorial can you just explain to me here how to make the base (out of what materials), the head and the feet.

Thanks,
Allison

By: ERIKA LOMELI

ERIKA LOMELI — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:03:15 +0000

My son is very excited to do this. He loves this idea. He is my third child to do a sculpture in kindergarten. One of my girls did a fruit bat, the other did a flamingo. The teachers just tell them to use anything they like. The fruit bat was made out of styrofoam (body) the wings were a fuzzy fabric and pipe cleaners. The flamingo…..well we cheated a little. We bought a plastic flamingo and added feathers for a more realistic texture. These kindergarteners at this school also have to do a written report along with their sculpture. My daughter who did the flamingo struggled to do the report and we had little time to do the sculpture. I will surely update you on my sons project when he’s finished. thank you so much. You’re very sweet.

By: Jonni

Jonni — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:33:13 +0000

Wow – an orangutan sculpture project for a child in kindergarten. Did the teacher give any suggestions at all?

OK, here’s how I would do it. Think red ape – and don’t get too hung up on details. Get a plastic bag, like the kind you bring home from the grocery store, and fill it with some crumpled paper or old rags. Tie off the top, and then squish it and wind some tape around the neck, about 1/3 of the way down, to make a head on top and a belly on the bottom.

Now we need some long skinny arms and legs – the easiest thing would probably be taking newspaper and twisting it into fat ropes, and then covering the sausage-shaped crumpled paper with masking tape. (This is a bit tricky to do by yourself, so he might need you to hold the paper down while he wraps the tape).

Now tape the arms on to the body at the shoulders, using tons of masking tape. Do the same with the legs at the hips. Your son might want to bend up the ends of the legs to make feet. Cover the whole shebang with more masking tape, and then cover with three or four layers of paper mache – the raw flour and water paste recipe will work just fine. Let is sit in a warm place for two or three days and allow it to dry completely – it might be necessary to turn it a few times so all sides get dry. Then paint it red, add some eyes and a big smile, and you’re good to go. Ears would be nice, too.

It sounds kind of fun, actually – be sure to show us how it turns out.

By: ERIKA LOMELI

ERIKA LOMELI — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 19:49:27 +0000

HI, I WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP US WITH SOME IDEAS. MY SON IS IN KINDERGARTEN. HE HAS TO MAKE A SCULPTURE OF AN ORANGUTAN. BIGGER THAN A SOFTBALL BUT SMALLER THAN A BASKETBALL AND WE CAN USE ANYTHING WE WANT TO MAKE IT. I’M THINKING OF A PAPER MACHE SCULPTURE. WE HAD FOUND A SOCK MONKEY BUT THAT’S ALOT OF NEEDLE WORK FOR HIM. CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE ME INSTRUCTIONS TO HELP HIM. I WOULD BE FOREVER GREATFUL.

By: Jonni

Jonni — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:03:28 +0000

Hi Aimen. The colt pattern is available for download. You can find it on the first post of the paper mache colt tutorial, about 7 paragraphs down. There's also an adult horse pattern that was printed in my paper mache book. Unfortunately, that pattern is not available online. Happy birthday to your mom. I hope you'll let us see her new horse sculpture when it's done.