We bought our house nearly a year ago and our walls are still blank. I have been drooling over faux animal heads and even created a board dedicated to them on pinterest. Buying fake animal heads starts at $68 at
anthropologie and go up to $335 at
Ruby’s lounge. I knew I could make mine for less! Time for
paper mache!
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Supplies I used to make my paper mache scuplture:
With the Elmers Glue, Cornstarch and Water create two different solutions:
Solution #1
- 2 cups of water
- 1/4 cup of Cornstarch
- 1/2 bottle of glue
Mix the solution frequently while using it.
Solution #2
- 1 cup of water
- a blender full of shredded paper towels
- 1/4 cup of cornstarch
- remaining glue
Blend the water and paper towels together till the paper are mushy bits. Add cornstarch & the remaining glue. You should not have any runny residue. If you do, add more shredded paper.
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To begin our project, I cut the foam board to create the “bones” of the sculpture. We notched the foam boards so the “frame” would be more sturdy. The kids and I then cut the paper towels into long strips and dipped that into solution #1 (see above). We draped the wet paper towels over the bones of our head. If possible you want to “criss-cross” the paper solution.
Don’t have all your paper strips going the same direction. This will help add strength to your sculpture. If possible let the layers partially dry before adding additional layers. I think we had roughly 3-5 layers, but I bet 3 would have been sufficient.
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We added the ears and then smoothered our creation with Solution #2. This pasty mix was made out of paper towel bits that we put through the blender. We wanted the mush to be clumpy, to resemble moose hair. But if you are looking for more of a smooth look, blend longer and add more water and cornstarch.
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Thanks bunches to
Elmers for their #Look4Less challenge and for providing a nifty gift pack of supplies for me to create my wall-art. I am totally thrilled with the results! This project would cost under 15$ to make.
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AND…. I have a gift pack from Elmers to giveaway to you!
Tell me what you would make with Elmer’s foam boards and whatever idea sounds interesting, fascinating, absolutely crazy (whatever 2 ideas most grab my attention) will get your own packs from Elmers!
This is a wonderful piece of art work. Very nicely done!
I haven’t tried this but I’ve been thinking about using foam boards to cut out a race track for my kids to play with their Hot Wheels cars. I would cut out strips of foam board for the “roads” but also cut two “tracks” on the road for the car wheels to fit in, maybe cutting about half way down into the boards, so the cars could be pushed away and still stay on the road. I think it would be super fun to do this with a ramp of foam board going down our staircase!
Awesome! I love paper mache!
Holy cow this is amazing!!!! This is so cool! And the possibilities are endless!
This looks so fun!
My husband was just talking about doing this with/for the kids. He thinks big, so he wanted to make a cave for the kids to play in… since we’ve never done it figured we better start out smaller, like a moose to give during our church small group Christmas party (long story). He’s already got the picture lined up, lol!
Thanks for sharing another fantastic idea!
I think it would be great fun to make a foam board gingerbread house to decorate for Christmas. It would be reusable and a lot easier for the kids to decorate. Or they could use it to make their Christmas placemats!
my girls just redecorate their room in a rainbow fish theme. it would be great to make some “real” fish to hang from the ceiling!
I have not been brave enough to try this on my own yet. I’m skeered. haha! But, I think I just might! And I’m going to use this post when i do it!
You and your kids are talented. I am amazed you were able to make a model with the foam board.
I am impressed!!!
I’ve been wanting to try making a doll house of foam boards a go, so that’s what I would do if I won!
And possibly some sort of vehicle for my son, who is less interested in houses…