Deer Head Pattern
For Paper Mache
$12
Bring the free spirit of this whitetail deer into your home.
No sculpting experience is required – the deer head pattern creates all the shapes for you. And the included instructions guide you step-by-step, to make sure your project is a success.
Display your new deer sculpture on your own wall, or give it as a gift to a special person who loves animals. It will be treasured even more because you made it yourself. 🙂
How to Make Your Deer Head Sculpture:
Print the pattern, put it on cereal box cardboard, and cut out the pieces.
Tape the pieces together, as shown in the instructions that are included in the pattern. Add foam balls for the eyes and foil to round out the antlers.
Add one layer of paper mache, like I did, or use paper mache clay. For the recipes, click on the ‘recipes’ tab at the top of the site.
Paint your deer sculpture with acrylic paint, and add fake eyelashes if you want, just for fun.
Finished size:
About 15 inches (381 mm) high, 19 inches (482 mm) wide and 10 inches (254 mm) deep, including the antlers.
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.
Note: If you’ll be saving your pattern to and iPhone or iPad, those devices like to hide your downloaded 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. 🙂
Watch the videos below to see how to make a deer head sculpture with this pattern.
In this first video below, you can see how to turn the cereal box cardboard pieces into all the realistic shapes of a whitetail deer’s head. The downloadable PDF pattern also includes screenshots showing exactly where each piece goes.
In this next video, you can see how add foil to the cardboard antler patterns, and then attach the antlers to his head.
And now for the really fun part! In this final video, we’ll add a few small details, cover the deer with a layer of paper mache (or paper mache clay, if you prefer) and then paint the sculpture.
It always feels like magic to me when I add that tiny white reflection spot to the eyes, and see the sculpture come to life!
$12
To make this paper mache deer head sculpture you will need:
- The downloadable pattern
- Printer
- Copy paper or full-sheet labels
- Glue stick if using copy paper for pattern
- The front and back from from 3 ½ standard-sized cereal boxes, or 7 pieces of letter-sized “light chipboard*” that you can purchase online.
- Pieces of corrugated cardboard from one or more shipping boxes
- Knife and sharp scissors for cutting cardboard
- Tape, both clear plastic tape and masking tape – but not “disappearing’ tape made for gifts – it isn’t strong enough
- 1 ½” (4 cm) Styrofoam ball, cut in half
- Aluminum foil
- Glue gun
- Paper strips and paste or paper mache clay (or use both)
- Acrylic gesso or white spray primer
- Acrylic paint and matte varnish
- And maybe some fake eyelashes. 🙂
*You can find recipes for paper mache paste and paper mache clay in the Recipes tab at the top of this site.
Do you have a question or need help with your pattern?
There are two ways to contact me: The fastest way to get an answer is to leave a comment below. I read all comments and answer them as soon as I can, usually within a few hours. One of my readers might also chime in to help – we have a very supportive community here on this site.
If you prefer to reach me privately, you can send me an email.
I get a ton of spam and I don’t want your email to get lost, so please put “paper mache” in the subject line so your email won’t be accidentally deleted. If you don’t hear back from me within 24 hours, assume the cyberspace gremlins ate your email, and try again. 🙂
$12
Some of the deer head sculptures made with this pattern…
Have You Used this Pattern? Tell Us About It …
HI Jonni!
I’m looking to make a Stag Head headpiece/headdress for a play, and was wondering if you had any suggestions for altering the base/neck area of this pattern to be able to make that work?
Thank you! And I love your work! I previously used your cow head pattern for our Teen production of “Into The Woods” and now we’re looking at both this pattern and your Lion Mask pattern to use for our next show!
Hi Rachael. It’s possible that you could combine the deer and the free blank mask form to create a headdress mask. If you try it, you might want to tape all of the blank mask pieces together first, including the face parts, because you won’t know how big the cap needs to be until you try to put the deer’s neck onto it. The difficult part will be balancing the mask properly, and cutting the neck so it matches the curves on the cap. You’ll probably need to fiddle with it for a while and make a few tries – and I’m not entirely sure it will work, because I haven’t tried it myself. If you do try it, we would love to see how it turns out! 🙂
I’m curious – what play are you getting ready for?
We are doing a play called “Head Over Heels”. It is based off a book written in 1580, set in ancient Greece, with music from The GoGo’s. So it’s going to be a fun one!
Just bought the patterns! Excited to see how they turn out!
Hi Jonni,
So thrilled to have found your website. I’m trying to make a deer mask and found this pattern for a deer head. Do you think I could make this work as a wearable mask as well (if I cut some holes for my eyes and a couple in the nose, and perhaps lose some of the bottom section)?
Thanks,
Zoe
Hi Zoe. It’s possible that you could turn the deer sculpture pattern into a mask, but I’ve never tried it. As you mentioned, their eyes are not in the same place as our eyes, so you would need to cut eye holes so you could see out. The back of the head right behind the ears is only 6.5″ high and 4.5″ wide. You may need to enlarge the pattern to make it fit, or cut the opening for your face at an angle to make it larger. If you decide to print it larger, this video might help. If you try it, we’d love to see how it turns out. 🙂
Amazing, thanks Jonni, that’s really helpful. I’m going to give it a go, so I’ll let you know how I get on! 🙂
OMG, I love love all your art—-thank you sooooo much for sharing
haydee
You’re welcome. 🙂
Hello Jonni I am not sure if you are still doing animals anymore but I made the Giraffe sculpture and I had so many people compliment me i posted it to your site where you put your finished art work but I was wondering do you have any suggestions my former boss wants me to make a moose sculpture for her daughter I was wondering if you have ever made a Moose sculpture? and what pattern would be close to making it ? thank you and I love all your sculpture God Bless Marisa the Crafter
Hi Marisa. Your giraffe is great – I can see why you get so many compliments. 🙂
I don’t have a moose pattern, and I’ve never made a moose. My house isn’t big enough even for the head and antlers. But our friend Sabrina showed us a moose she made. She made it with an internal pattern that she made herself. A moose has a very ‘distinctive’ head, and I don’t know of any other animal that even comes close, so none of my patterns would really work. There are several papercraft moose head patterns on Etsy.com. They’re made by computer-generated triangles, but some of them are very close to a real moose, and could be used as a basis for a more realistic sculpture. This one looks really nice.
If you make one, be sure to come back and show it off. We’d love to see it. 🙂
Hi Jonni!
I purchased the Deer Head mount pattern, but as I am getting used to IPhone, I didn’t see an option to copy it to IBook and now my phone is holding the pattern hostage somewhere.
Any tips to help me find it? I only remember saying it’s”copied” but to WHERE?!?! Heehee?
My son’s 5th grade art project is on hold til I figure this out!
Thanks in advance,
Michelle
Hi Michelle. I don’t have an iPhone, but I know you’re right – they deliberately hide your downloads. I think it’s a special “feature.” I found this recent video that talks about iPhone downloads. And this article talks about the Files app, which “makes it simple to find what you’re looking for, no matter where you saved it or what device you’re currently using.” The article is on the Apple support site, so it looks trustworthy.
I hope this helps. If you still can’t get the download to work, please let me know. And I hope both you and your son have fun making the deer. 🙂
Thanks Jonni! I’ll let ya know!
Have you ever done a complete deer’s body?
No, I haven’t – but Rona made a reindeer, and showed us how she did it.
I want to make reindeers for my grandkids but i don’t know how can you help me with a pattern i really love the things you make and how would i make it weather resistance sincerely Irene Montoya
Hi Irene. Our friend Rona wrote a guest post for us several years ago, showing us how she made a reindeer. It’s probably larger than the ones you want to make, but it’s really nice. You can see the post here. This video might also help. If you want the reindeer to be outside for just a few days you can protect them with a few coats of marine varnish. The paper mache will get soft while it’s outside, but you can bring them inside to dry them off again. Some people say that Flex Seal will make paper mache permanently waterproof, but we’ve also received a report from someone who tried it and who said it didn’t work. I never put paper mache outside, myself, unless it’s just for a few days. And even then I bring it inside if it’s going to rain.
What are the finished dimensions of the deer head?
Finished size: About 15 inches (38.1 cm) high, 16 inches (40.64 cm) wide and 13 inches (33.02 cm) deep.
Jonni,
I’m having a terrible time trying to figure out the ears for the deer. I’ve messed with them but can’t seem to “get it”. How do the pieces (16 & 17) go together?
Hi Sylvia. The ears can be tricky. Maybe the easy way to describe it is to say that the tabs should all line up along the bottom, and the extension on piece 16 needs to bend to match the V-shaped end of piece 17. Does your ear look anything like the one below, after the short end of 17 is taped to the extension on pice 16?
For me, that was one of your most fun videos. I have had a difficult time viewing videos on my computer for some reason, so I was happy when they played today. I love the idea of aluminum foil around the nose and the eyes. I’m definitely going to use that. I’m painting a few projects now and am going to paint with Jessie’s brush! It looks like you paint from dark to light.? I love the fur.
I grew up in a family of hunters (I don’t kill anything, even spiders — maybe a fly or two!), and they killed deer every year. The antlers are really impressive, and it looks to me like the marks are painted perfectly. They are not “straight.”
I had an uncle who had a tame deer. Someone took a photo of me holding his face in my hands and getting ready to give him a kiss, so this brought back many fond memories.
Thanks so much for thinking outside the box for those of us who hardly see daylight!
Thanks, Rex. I’m glad you like the video – that means a lot to me.
Jonni, the painting of the fur is perfect. I can hardly believe it. I, too, bought one of “Jessie’s brushes” and plan on using it soon. I used the brush once and love it. The deer is beautiful. Thanks for all your beautiful work.
Thanks, Rex.
Jonni, the fur paint job is fabulous! Jessie would be really proud that you took her tutorial to heart. I got one of those brushes after watching her tutorial but it is much smaller. I like the size that you have….may have to get one!
The painting of the deer antlers was realistic as well. In real life, they are not all going in the same direction. My kids would find them and bring them home and they have scratches and dents in all sorts of directions, perhaps as a result of their mating behaviors??? I wonder if you used that same brush and used longer strokes if you could achieve that same effect?
It is a fine sculpture and a really fine pattern that you offer. Thanks.
Thanks, Eileen. I bought one of the smaller graining brushes, too, but I haven’t tried it yet. I do wonder if the larger brush would work on fur that clumps, like bear or wolf fur – when you see small bunches coming together in a point. I guess I’ll have to try it. 🙂