Baby Elephant
Wall Sculpture Pattern for Paper Mache
$12
You can display this happy baby elephant on your own wall, or give her to someone special. Everyone who sees your sculpture will fall in love with her.
This instantly downloadable PDF pattern creates all the shapes for you. You add the paper mache, and bring it to life with paper towel wrinkles and acrylic paint.
And when it’s done, you can proudly tell everyone you made it yourself.
My downloadable PDF Patterns come with full instructions.
There’s no waiting for your pattern to arrive, and no shipping costs, so you can start on your project right away.
Click here if you’d like to know more about how the patterns are delivered. (If you’ll be saving your pattern to and iPhone or iPad, they do tend to hide your files. You can scroll down this page to see how to find them.)
And remember – if you have any problems downloading your files or putting your pattern together, just let me know. I’m always happy to help. 😀
This baby elephant wall sculpture takes some patience to build, but if you go slowly and follow the detailed instructions that are included with the pattern, it’s surprisingly easy to make. The pattern creates all the realistic shapes for you – even that delightful smile!
She’s too young for tusks, but she’s still pretty darned big! Finished size: about 19.5 inches (496 mm) high, 22.25 inches (566 mm) wide and 9 inches (231 mm) deep.
$12
How to add paper mache clay and wrinkles to your baby elephant:
As you can see in the video, you can use Jonni’s paper mache clay recipe for your elephant. It goes on so much faster than paper strips and paste, but traditional paper mache will work, too. (You can find the recipe for paper mache clay in the “Recipes” link at the top of the page.)
The final skin is made with paper towels. That’s how you can get those nice wrinkles around her ears and eyes. If you want to go crazy with it, you can then use the crackle glaze, like I did in the video below. Clear fingernail polish will make your elephant’s eyes bright and sparkly.
There are quite a few pieces in this pattern, but if you take your time and follow the instructions on the pattern and in the video you’ll end up with a beautiful wall sculpture. It’s sure to impress anyone who sees it.
Watch the video below to see how to create realistic ‘skin’ for your paper mache elephant sculpture.
To make this paper mache wall sculpture you will need:
- 14 pieces of 110# card stock
- A printer
- Scissors
- Clear plastic tape (like Scotch tape)
- Peel N’ Stick Clear Laminate Adhesive Shelf Liner*
- 1 ½” Styrofoam balls for the eyes
- Glue gun, to attach the eyes
- Masking tape (both narrow and wide)
- Aluminum foil, shredded paper or foam packing peanuts for stuffing inside the pattern to support it. The foam peanuts are my preference, but the other options will also work.
- Paper Mache (use paper strips and paste or paper mache clay. Recipes can be found on my website. Just click on the Paper Mache Art Library at the top of the site.
- Paper towels
- Gesso (home-made recipe can be found on my website. Or you can use acrylic gesso from the art store.
- Acrylic paint and gel medium for the eyes. I also used a spray can of gray primer and two tiny pieces of black paper for the pupils. These items are optional.
- Matte acrylic varnish
*You can find this in the housewares department of Walmart, or order it online. Or just use clear tape. It keeps the cardstock from getting wet when you add your paper mache.
$12
Just a few of the Baby African Elephants that have been made with this pattern:
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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.
Hello! Thank you for all the ideas and information. I want to do some sculpture wall hangings with my 6th graders in 3d art. We have limited supplies and funds. Can you give me some ideas for how to use the patterns with the clay? Instead of covering it with foil or tape to keep from sogging out, could I just spray paint the form before sculpting with the clay?
Hi Susan. Of all the patterns I have, this one is probably the one that takes the longest to make. And I only have two patterns that are made with the thin cardstock, which needs to be covered with tape, and this is one of them. It’s possible that the spray paint would seal it well enough so it wouldn’t get soggy, but I’ve never tried it. Would it be possible for you to use one of the other patterns? The other one that uses card stock is the Giant Bullfrog. All the others use cardboard from cereal boxes, except the lion mask that uses corrugated cardboard. If you use a thin layer of paper mache clay they don’t need to be covered with tape first.
Hi Jonni,
I do not know how you create these patterns, they are amazing. I am currently trying to make a life-size Indian elephant head (roughly 19″ wide, 32″ high) Not including the ears. (which are much smaller than african elephant ears) I keep coming back to this pattern and thinking I could some how enlarge it and make it work but I just don’t know if I have the skill to do that. I have made some of your other patterns which are great! I was hoping I could beg and plead with you (haha) to create an enlarged elephant head pattern. It is for a youth musical of Phantom of the Opera which is showing in May so I have time but not a ton. Thank you.
Hi D.K. A lot of people have made this pattern larger. The easy way to do it is to take it to your local printer, who will print it at any percent larger that you want, on larger paper. That’s a lot easier than using the “poster” setting on your printer, which can sometimes cause some pattern pieces to span more than one page, and then you have to piece them back together again. This pattern was one of my first, and it was originally designed to be used with cardstock. Cardstock isn’t strong enough if you make the elephant bigger. But I’ve been told by one of our readers that it will also work with cereal box cardboard, and that would be plenty strong enough, once the paper mache is added. It also doesn’t need the extra steps I mention in the directions, of using clear plastic over the pattern before cutting it out in order to keep the cardstock from getting soggy from the paper mache. The cereal box cardboard would hold up just fine, especially if you use the Titebond III wood glue instead of paste, like I do when I make the masks for the Lion King play, because you only need one layer and it dries really fast.
In addition to the size of the ears, I think there’s a difference in the shape of the Indian elephant’s forehead – but on stage I can’t imagine that anyone would be able to see the difference.
Have fun with it!