Made by Dee Janelle
First, thanks Jonni for all you do to help other artists. I couldn’t have done this without your books, instructional videos, and patterns. I am a lifelong artist—painting and mosaics—but those mediums didn’t satisfy my desire to create in 3D. When I decided to try sculpting I had very specific ideas, and headed to Amazon books for answers. There, I found ‘Make Animal Sculptures’ and ‘Paper Mache Dogs’, which pointed me to Ultimate Paper Mache.
Using your instructions I made the dog sculpture first and covered the armature in Silky-Smooth Air Dry Clay. Sentry (12” high) sat around my studio for several months while I studied repoussé metal embossing on aluminum cookie sheets. After lots of practice I covered him in hand-embossed aluminum and copper metal tape. I quickly discovered metal tape doesn’t adhere well to tight curved lines. I had to hand glue the tape to the dog. After that, I scaled up all my sculptures and now the adhesive works great.
The horse sculpture Curiosity was my second, and stands nearly two feet tall. To achieve stability at greater heights I modified the armature to include a 1/2 gallon recycled plastic jug for the body, and empty paper towel tubes for the legs—which are weighted. I shaped card stock for the hooves, neck, head, and ears. For the tail I used a long piece of armature wire covered in card stock. To fasten the tail, I wrapped the long ends around the hindquarters to support the tail, then taped everything before covering in the clay recipe. Like the dog, Curiosity’s final layer is hand-embossed metal tape. Thanks for the opportunity to share.
These sculptures are absolutely wonderful! The metal technique looks amazing and makes the pieces have so much more dimension. Very impressive!
Thanks Pat. They sure are fun to create.
Oh wow, what an interesting way to cover the paper mache! I love it!
Thank you, Rhonda!
Absolutely awesome!!
Thank you. They were fun to create.
Those are amazing. What a wonderful creative way to make sculptures.
Thank you. I hope they inspire others.
Very beautiful ! what kind of glue is used for the metal tape ?
Hi Lee ~ Thank you! The metal tape has adhesive, but I encountered difficulty with the glue (on the tape) adhering to tight curves on the dog. The tape kept peeling off. It adheres wonderfully to larger sculptures with broad curves and flat surfaces. In answer though, I used a spray adhesive (I can’t remember which one!) and reapplied the tape. That solved the peeling problem.
Wow – they’re fantastic, Dee! Thank you so much for showing them to us. 🙂
Thanks for your kind words, Jonni.