"Leopold"We went overboard on this one (for dramatic effect, and "funsies"). He's about 4 feet tall and with ears, over 3 feet wide. It took us about 3 weeks (evenings and weekends) to complete. We had to rent a cargo van to get him to school. |
This elephant was a High School LA project for my daughter. They read Joseph Conrad's famous "Heart of Darkness" and had to come up with some creative project to present. This was all her idea.
We used lots of techniques - wooden armature, wire, paper mache, cloth mache, paper mache clay Thanks to Gourmet Paper Mache and Ultimate Paper Mache for great ideas and tips. Highly recommend! The tusks are wired and duct-taped on, then also held on with the paper mache. The trunk is cardboard on the inside for the shape, machéd with paper, then hot-glued and paper machéd on. Cloth mache covered a lot of area and made great wrinkles. Paper mache clay let us fill gaps and do details. |
Build the ArmatureYou need something to define and support the structure of something this large. We used particle board and 2x4s but it's too heavy. "Next time" I'll just use cardboard.
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Pad with PaperMake the basic shape using newspaper balls and masking tape. SO MUCH masking tape!
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Give it a SkinAfter doing a shell of regular paper mache (with flour and water paste) we used cloth mache to cover large areas and make wrinkles. Paper mache clay filled in gaps, covered seams, and created details.
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Add EarsEars are made of cardboard with masking tape. Hot glue and tape on. Made ridges for wrinkles with paper and tape. Eventually will skin layer of mixture of joint compound and Elmer's glue.
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Cloth Mache WrinklesCloth mache using blue bedsheet and Elmer's white glue. Nice for wrinkling.
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EyesWe created the eyes with glass vase fillers backed by a printout of an elephant eyeball. (or you can buy taxidermy eyes). Then detailed wrinkles using paper mache clay.
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PaintPaint with flat grey primer + paint a few coats. Tusks are coated with the glue + joint compound mixture to smooth. You can sand this mixture once dry but it is quite hard. Best to be smooth before drying.
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To add depth to skin and accentuate wrinkles, we did a "blackwash" over the skin. With very diluted dark grey paint, paint over small sections at a time, then wipe off with a rag, leaving the darker color in the creases. Paint the tusks - what else but ivory? Peel the protective tape off the eyes.
We added toenails with paper mache clay. African elephants have 4 toes in front and 3 in the back. Also added a tuft to the tail. We could have used horsehair, but we used a long-bristled wall texture brush and painted the bristles black. |
Transport and Be Celebrated
As this was an LA class, not just an awesome art project, my daughter had a plan to complete the metaphorical image. She made a paper mache heart ("Heart of Darkness" - Kurtz's heart/Colonialism) with hot glue blood drips, being held like a trophy by the elephant (Congo/Nature). A definite A+++!!