How Lezlei Young Made Camilla, a Giraffe for Vacation Bible School

Jonni Good

4 years ago

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A few weeks ago our friend Lezlei Young posted a photo of Camilla, her very large giraffe, on the Daily Sculptors page. To put it mildly, we were all impressed. That’s why I was so excited when she agreed to show us exactly how it was made. Thank you, Lezlei!

How I created Camilla the Giraffe

Thank you Jonni for giving me an opportunity to share Camilla the giraffe’s story! I am a 65-year-old mixed media artist living in the Dallas area. Camilla the giraffe is the largest art project I have ever done! Camilla was made as part of the decorations for my church Vacation Bible School. The theme was “In the Wild” this year.

Here is how I created Camilla the giraffe!

Step 1: I purchased and downloaded the Ultimate Paper Mache giraffe pattern from Jonni’s website.

I printed the pattern directly onto cardstock paper. I cut out everything and glued designated pieces onto corrugated cardboard according to the instructions. The cardstock paper worked great for the other pieces and allowed me to easily shape and glue the pieces together! So easy to put together! Loved the results!

Step 2: I downloaded the paper mache recipes that were provided with my purchase and decided to try the “Boiled Paper Mache” recipe. I loved it! It required less flour, easy to prepare and dried hard, smooth and transparent. I prepared my newspaper strips and covered the assembled head with three layers of paper mache. Jonni’s tips on using the smaller pieces of newspaper to get in the smaller areas worked great!

Step 3: I have a great brother! I called him, and he came over and built the giraffe body “skeleton” from pieces of scrap wood from my hardware store (free!) and a couple of purchased 1X2 wood pieces.

Step 4: I used a large round balloon to fill out the giraffe stomach – really gave the belly a great shape.

I cut the outline of the giraffe’s back from cardboard and glued to the wood. This helped me to keep the shape I wanted for the back as I added the crumpled-up paper to fill out the body.

I also cut out cardboard shapes that I taped above the front legs to help to achieve the shape I wanted for the top of the legs.

I used paper towel rolls to “round out” the edges of the wooden legs.

I used pool noodles to fill out the neck of my giraffe.

I created a tail by wrapping newspaper around a piece of scrap wire that I could bend to help shape the tail.

I used foil to give her hoofs the desired shape.

Step 5: Once I was finished filling out the body, I covered the entire body, legs and tail with masking tape. I added extra crumbled paper to give Camilla some “knees”.

Step 6: I then covered the body and legs with 3 layers of paper mache.

Step 7: I decided to paint the head of the giraffe BEFORE I attached it to the body just to make it easier for me to reach the head. Camilla is about 7 feet tall.

I then attached the head to the body securing it with masking tape and paper mache using Tyvek for the first layer to strengthen and then 2 layers of newspaper paper mache.

Step 8: Both the head and the body were painted first with white gesso followed by a coat of titan buff. The giraffe markings were hand painted with burnt sienna and yellow ochre that I mixed as I painted. I add some darker “shadows” in the giraffe markings by added black to the burnt sienna yellow ochre mix.

Step 9: Finishing. I gave Camilla’s eyes a coat of clear finger nail polish. I cut and glued brown wool roving to create Camilla’s mane and to add hair to the end of her tail and the inside of her ears