Made by Amanda Carr
I put all of the masks I made for our middle school production of Lion King Jr. in our school’s lobby display case before our show to help build interest and excitement. I even included the Baby Elephant from the Baby Elephant Wall Sculpture Pattern just for fun. The kids LOVED the happy baby elephant!
Hi Ali. The elephant head is one of the first patterns I made, so that’s why it’s more difficult to use than almost all of the other patterns. I only have a laser printer myself, so my printer doesn’t work on cardstock either. But you can print on full sheet labels or regular paper, and stick it to your cardstock.
Almost all of my other patterns use cereal box cardboard, but I didn’t think the tabs on the elephant pattern would work with the heavier material. If you have an extra sheet of cereal box cardboard, you could try it by printing one page of the pattern pieces and see if the piece fit together in spite of the tabs. If they do, you won’t actually need the clear adhesive, because part of the reason for using it is to make the cardstock stiffer. (One of these days I intend to redo the baby elephant, to make it easier!)
The pages are 8.5″ x 11″. My math isn’t great, either, but if you put the pages next to each other, they’ll use 17″ of the width. Then you’ll need 82″ of your plastic, which is slightly more than the 5′ you have. If you cut off the margins of the pattern pages, they’ll take up less space, and you’ll probably be able to fit them all on the clear adhesive that you already have.
I hope that helps. I can’t wait to see how it turns out! 🙂
Thank you SO much!!!
That solves so much and allows me to use the materials I have left over from Thistle the giraffe!
A Q about “tabs” on this elephant head pattern- just so I’m understanding their position correctly-
Do these tabs (like the many on the trunk) connect flatly to the matching number on the other piece or do they need to be folded?
Also, I’ll go with the full labels adhered to the 110# stock.
Since I’m transforming this baby into an Asiatic elephant I’ll be building up boney lumps For the protruding forehead-
I figured I’d build it up on top of the built paper form with foil before covering it all with masking tape (maybe adding mini tusks too under masking tape).
Question is- should I paper mache with paper strips first or can i use your new clay over the whole thing?
Then gesso
Then decorate
Then spray with clear protectant…
Thanks!
Ali
On the elephant pattern, the tabs slide under the piece next to it, so the edges of the pieces all line up into the right shapes. You can see how the pieces look when they’re put together in the first photo on page 3 of the instructions.
Your crumpled foil will add a lot of strength to your sculpture. And you don’t need to add paper strips and paste first before using the paper mache clay. Some people like to do that, but I never do. I hope you’re having fun! 🙂
I am sooooooo sorry that’s ridiculously long! ?
Ali
Hi all!
Getting the baby elephant head prepared for building but my printer refused to print in 110lb cardstock so i had to go to staples-
Ive done the girraffe and LOVE it!
I guess I wasnt prepared for an entirely different sculpting experience with elephant!
Um… I’m not sure how much clear adhesive to buy. I bought one from Amazon that is 5’ x 17.5” and I’m not sure if that’s gonna be enough to coat the front and back of each of the 15 pages of elephant pieces.
I knew this was going to be more much more intensive than the giraffe, but I assumed it would be puzzle wise, and I’m fine with that. I love puzzles and putting everything together. I’m just very new to this style of not using full label pages over serial box with cardboard…
Does anybody have any idea maybe Johnni, would that be a possibility for me if I printed these out on full label sheets again, and put them on cereal box weight cardboard?
It certainly feels about the same weight as 110 pound card stock.
Anyway, the printouts that I got from Staples on their brand of 110 pound Card stock kind of stink they’re not super clear but there’s not much I can do about it and that’s not how I like to start off projects. I’m already doing a lot of my own personal alterations to this cute baby elephant to make it personalized for my Hindu dentist. I’ll be turning the trunk around and I’ll be adding to the forehead in Jonni’s wonderful new clay!!!
I just feel a bit daunted by the preparation and wonder if I have I guess enough self adhesive book cover because I’m terrible at math and if anybody thinks I could pull it off by doing what I did with the giraffe and use full page white labels to print each page of patterns and stick them on the cardboard from cereal boxes, or I have 90 pound card stock left over from giraffe or I still have 110 pound card stock that I could put the label on which would probably give me clearer pictures…
I’m so sorry I’m like talking myself through this. I bought this almost a month ago and I’ve been wrestling with it so thanks for bearing with me folks!!! And I’ll post a picture of thistle my giraffe when I’m done with this post!
So I guess my important questions are: 1: can I get away with using the full page labels on any number card stock or cereal box cardboard like I did for the giraffe?
2: how much of the clear adhesive do I actually need to buy I already have 17 1/2” x 5’ or 150 cm x 45 cm and on Amazon that was I Think seven bucks but everything is getting more expensive.
And thank you so much I love this positive page where everybody is just sharing and creating thanks to Johnni!