African Animal 3-Pattern Set
$36 – $26
Save $10 when you buy the 3-pattern set.
Create these realistic sculptures for your own home. They also make beautiful gifts that will be treasured for years.
The downloadable pattern set includes: a Baby African Elephant Wall Sculpture, a Lion Mask and a Giraffe Sculpture.
How do the patterns work?
The patterns for the lion, baby elephant and giraffe will create all the shapes for you – just cut them out of cardboard and add paper mache or paper mache clay. Then paint them any way you like to create beautiful one-of-a-kind works of art.
The patterns come with complete instructions, to help you every step of the way.
You’ll be able to download your patterns right after you order. You’ll also receive an email with the download links, and a separate receipt. The emails may take a few minutes to arrive. If you don’t see them, be sure to check your spam or promotions folder.
If you’d like to see the videos that show you how these masks and sculptures are made, click on the following links:
I’m Jonni Good.
Since 2008, thousands of people have used my tutorials, videos and patterns to create beautiful works of art. I try very hard to make each one of my patterns fun and easy to use. Each pattern comes with illustrated step-by-step instructions, but I’m always happy to answer questions if you need help.
Download your pattern right after you order and get started today.
$26 for the complete 3-pattern set
Just a few of the sculptures that have been made with these patterns:
Do you have a question or need help with your pattern?
If you have a question about putting your pattern together or painting it, leave a comment below or on the Daily Sculptors page. I read all comments and answer them as soon as I can, usually within a few hours. Some of my readers might ideas for you, too — we have a very supportive community on this site.
Downloading your files: To see exactly how the downloading process should work, click here. If your pattern doesn’t download correctly and you can’t see the solution on that page, let me know right away so I can help. This is a one-person business, but I check my inbox regularly and will respond as fast as I can.
Hi Jonni,
I’m in the process of making the giraffe head for the Lion King play next weekend. I have it all assembled and it looks great. (I am hoping to add another “ring” to make the neck a little longer and wider to fit on a child’s head.) I’m also hoping I can figure out how to do that by looking at the upper “rings” of the neck and following what you did. So any suggestions would be great.
Also, I’m getting a little overwhelmed by the options of adding the paper mache portion…I can’t tell which would be easiest.
1) Should I still cover the entire piece with masking tape (is that true for other projects)…I’m hoping to make two horse heads into zebras.
2) Seems like covering with paper mache pieces could be very time consuming (after starting the masking tape portion)…would the paper mache clay go on quicker but still not be too heavy?
3) Or I have wood glue…should I go that route…can that be used with newspaper?
Mainly I want quick and light!? 🙂 Thanks for your suggestions!–Amber
Hi Amber. It might be possible to just cut the bottom neck pattern pieces twice, tape them onto the pieces above them, and then fill in the gap. There is a slight taper on the neck, but I don’t think there will be much of a gap to fill in.
And you’re right – when it comes to paper mache there are a lot of options. If you’re using cereal boxes for the head and corrugated cardboard for the neck, you won’t need to cover the cardboard with masking tape. A very thin layer of paper mache clay will go on quickly, but if you’re in a hurry it may take extra time to get it as smooth a you would like it. I think the fastest way is to use the wood glue with paper, and newspaper will work just fine. The glue dries really fast, you only need one layer, and it will reinforce all the seams to make everything stronger.
I hope you’re having fun! 🙂
Hi, Jonni
I’m super impressed by your work, the attention to detail is amazing. I’m extremely new to the paper mache/clay world and I’ve pretty much dove in head first on a pretty significantly large project, its a mini donkey and so far so good. I kinda winged the clay recipe and nailed it first thing, it was smooth, easy to work with and dried super hard. Thanks for explaining it so easy and thorough. I’ll get to my question (sorry for the rambling) when you’re ready to, for example, make eyes for a mask, do you make the eyes out of something besides the clay or do .you make them with the clay..I can’t seem to make them look right by just using the clay.. what am I doing wrong?
Hi Fonda. I like to use a foam ball for the eyes, and cover it with paper strips and paste instead of the paper mache clay. It seems easier to get it smooth that way. You can also use glass cabochons and paint them, like Pia did. Our friend John used taxidermy eyes for his wolf – so there’s lots of options.
Charlie Chaplin pics
Do you have a pattern for a live size Rihno? I just need the back with 2 legs and the head.
Thanks
No, I don’t have a pattern for a rhino. If you’d like to make one yourself using the interior silhouette method, you can see how to do that in this video.
These look really cool! They’d looked really good together with the Lion King set you also have
Hi, your work is amazing!
My daughter age 9 wants to make the giraffe for a school project.
Is it too difficult for a 9 year old?
And is dry wall compound the same as multipurpose joint compound in Australia.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/gyprock-csr-6kg-multipurpose-joint-compound_p0730744
And for the giraffe how many kilos would we need to add a final smooth coat too. Ta
Hi Jay. If your daughter likes arts and crafts, she should be able to make the giraffe with some help. She might want to use traditional paper strips and paste instead of the paper mache clay, though. That way, you won’t have to go to the store for any supplies during the lockdown. The giraffe will still look really nice with the paper strips and paste. If you have some drywall joint compound on hand, she could us it just for smoothing the surface, and it would take less than a standard measuring cup. It needs to go on almost paper-thin.
Take care and stay well,
Jonni
Let me start off by saying that your work is amazing! These are so life-like. I am interested in your African Animal 3 pattern set for a VBS project. My question is: how long will the process be to make something like these? As a class, the students will only have four 20 minute sessions to work on a project. I want to make this project but I don’t want them to run out of time and not finish. Maybe you know of one project that is quicker than another or how much I should prepare ahead in order for them to finish on time. Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated because I have never made anything from paper mache before. I am really looking forward to trying this project and even if my class can’t do this one I will definitely be giving it a try. 🙂
Hi Alana. How old are your students? Twenty minutes isn’t much time, but if you cut out the pattern pieces and taped them together before the class started, and if you had some paste and torn paper strips ready to use, they might be able to cover their animals with paper mache in one sitting. I don’t think I’d recommend using the paper mache clay recipe, just because it takes time to learn how to apply it in a really thin layer. It would take one class just to show them how to use it, I’m afraid.
If they’re able to pair up with two people working on one animal, that might help – although they might also get in each other’s way. Paper mache takes time to dry, but if you use just one layer of paper mache and put them in front of a fan, they might be dry the next day. Then the students would have time to paint and decorate them.
Now I have to add a disclaimer – I have never made any of these patterns in a workshop environment with other people. And I also design primarily for adults. But we do have some regular readers who teach small classes, and they would be able to offer you much better advice. I suggest copying your comment and re-posting it on the Daily Sculptors page, where they will be more likely to see it. Good luck!
And one more thing – the new lion headdress masks were designed to be faster to put together. They were intended for the Lion King play, but they are African, and the students might have fun writing a script that would fit in with your VBS theme, and performing it. You would still want to cut out the pieces and tape them together in advance. It could take more than 20 minutes just to cut out the pieces, per mask, and another 30 minutes at least to tape them together.
Love your work, could you tell me how you created the hat portion of the lion king mask that you used the wood glue on? I’m need to make that exact mask for a Lion King Dance?
Hi Timikah. The instructions for the pattern for that Lion King mask are almost finished, and the pattern will be available sometime next week. I don’t have a pattern for just the hat portion, though. Check back next Tuesday or Wednesday to see how they’re made.
Love your work, and plan on punching the African package. I saw the video of you using wood glue to create a durable mask to where on top of the head. That’s what I’m needing to make for a Lion King Camp. Do you have you assemble the cap portion and how you attached it to the mask?
I should mention as an addition to my other comment that I’ve designed four different lions for the Lion King play, but they took me longer than I expected because the snow finally melted and I’ve been doing a lot of work on the yard. But stay tuned… 🙂
I did contact you, at 1:30PM today, and resent the download link. Gmail often hides my emails. Did you look in your promotions folder? Also, could you tell me if you got any sort of error message? I tested the link and it works fine on my PC. (Of course, this comment will also be sent to you with my email address, and Gmail might hide this one, too – I have no idea why they do that – it’s so frustrating!)