Made by George Morrison
This was my first ever project using paper mache clay, and many thanks to Jonni for sharing her recipe and making this site in general! I’ve got a lot of things I want to make/try next!
I made this using cardboard, foam tubes, copper wire, aluminum foil, and of course paper mache clay! In order to have any chance of getting the correct progression of suction cup sizes from base to tip, I designed and 3D printed over 1500 suction cups and hot glued them to the arms. I modeled the head separately from the body and then attached it later. This made it easier to place the head on a lazy Susan and get the shape and details right.
I used a natural sponge and some paper mache clay with reduced paper content to dab on to make the skin texture. I used clear cabochons for the eyes and printed an image of a real octopus eye to glue to the backs of the cabochons.
Painted with acrylic paint and some airbrushing for color breakup. I had masked the eyes with Vallejo liquid mask to keep them pristine until after painting; that worked really well and was easy to remove when I was ready. I used DecoArt triple thick gloss glaze to give the sculpture a wet a slimy look. I hope you enjoy it!
PS: My apartment is not gonna be happy when they see the size of the hook I drilled into their wall to support this monster, but I guess I’ll deal with that another day. 🙂
What a great sculpture! Thank you so much for sharing it with us, and for giving so many details about how it was made. I love those realistic eyes and the beautiful way you painted it – and you may be the first person to come up with the idea of using the 3D printer for all those suction cups. 🙂