Made by Kathleen Borkey
I am quite pleased with the way Bruce turned out for me! This is the 1st piece of art made with my hands since I was in middle school! I’ve always wanted a “shark head” to hang in our home on the Chesapeake Bay, and Jonni’s pattern was just the thing! I like to recycle what is available and working in paper/cardboard allowed me to do just that!
First, I enlarged the pattern (Bruce is 24 inches from tip of the nose to the wall he is hung on), and cut it out of cardboard shipping boxes we would be putting into the recycling bin. After I got it assembled, I found a bucket of lightweight joint compound in the garage, and so I skim coated my cardboard base with it. I used latex paint that was leftover from having out interior painted a few years ago, which I then brushed a clear iridescent craft paint over the entire thing to protect and give the color some depth.
Hi Kathleen – thanks for letting us see Bruce the shark. And also thanks for letting us know how it was made. It sounds like you didn’t use any paper mache at all, but with the latex paint, and being hung out of reach on the wall, it should hold up really well. I’ll bet you get a lot of interesting comments from your guests when they see him. 🙂
Whoops! I forgot to mention the actual paper mache layer! Cardboard was covered in paper mache, then coated with drywall mud and then painted and sealed.
Thanks for the update! 🙂