Giraffe Sculpture Pattern
For Paper Mache
$12
Make this stunning Giraffe sculpture for your home.
No sculpting experience is required – the giraffe pattern creates all the shapes for you. After adding a layer of paper mache, watch him come to life when you paint all those spots and those big, beautiful eyes.
Display your new giraffe head sculpture in your own home, or give it as a gift to a special person who loves African animals. It will be treasured even more because you made it yourself.
How to make a Giraffe Sculpture with this pattern:
Print the pattern, attach it to cardboard, and cut out the pieces.
Tape the pieces together and add weight to the bottom of the neck.
Add paper mache or paper mache clay (I used both).
Paint your new giraffe sculpture with acrylic paint. When the paint is dry you can add false eyelashes, if you want.
The first few pieces you’ll tape together are a little tricky, so be sure to watch the video below. After that, the pieces are quite large and go together quickly. You will need to weight the base with a plastic bag filled with plaster of Paris – it’s really easy, and the video shows you how.
Finished size: About 24 inches (61 cm) high, 14 inches (23 cm) wide and 14 inches (35 cm) deep.
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.
$12
Watch this video to see how to make your giraffe sculpture:
Full instructions are also included in the downloadable pattern PDF
How to make your paper mache giraffe smooth, without sanding:
To make this paper mache giraffe sculpture you will need:
- Printer
- Copy paper or full-sheet labels
- Glue stick if using copy paper for pattern
- Cardboard from 3 standard-sized cereal boxes
- 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
- 2” Styrofoam ball, cut in half
- Aluminum foil
- Glue gun
- Plaster of Paris and two plastic bags, to weight the neck
- Paper strips and paste, or paper mache clay* (I used both when I made mine)
- Acrylic gesso
- Acrylic paint and matte varnish
*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
Just a few of the giraffe sculptures that have been made with this pattern:
Click here to see many more giraffe sculptures that have been posted by my readers. This is one of the most popular patterns on my site. 🙂
Have You Used this Pattern to Make a Giraffe? Click Here to Show it Off …
Hi Jonni –
These are amazing! I need to put together a giraffe costume for the Lion King Jr. What do you recommend to transform these into headresses that kids can wear? Do they still need to be weighted or no? How to securely attach to something that the kids can put on relatively easily?
Thanks for any advice!!
I haven’t tried that myself, but a lot of people have used the giraffe as a headdress by taping the bottom of the neck to a bicycle helmet. That’s probably the best way to do it, because the straps on the helmet, and its weight, will keep the giraffe upright.
What are the dimensions without the neck, ears, and ossicones?
The giraffe’s head is about 6″ high and 12″ deep.
Alright, thank you. I purchased all three I asked about (giraffe, jackrabbit, and moose). However when I went to enter payment I didn’t end up seeing any way to enter a code for the 15% off over 30. My PayPal says the payment went through at $31 which is the amount without the coupon code. Btw I received the files fine and was able to download them without issue.
Thanks for your order! Right after clicking the checkout button there’s a small link that says “got a code?” But it’s quite small and easy to miss. Send me an email and let me know what email you used for your purchase, and I can send a refund through the system. You can find my email address here.
I came upon your creatures while looking for a paste recipe, and find them really delightful. I also love the fact that so many of your customers sent pictures of their finished pieces.
A very enjoyable look even if I never make any. Thanks!
Thanks, Paddy. 🙂
Hi Jonni. This is really awesome, and thank you for the great pattern and instructions. I spent all day on my giraffe and have just got him fully covered in masking tape. Our tape is bright blue, so he’s quite striking! I was really impressed with how well your pattern went together, Excellent work 🙂
Waiting for supplies to arrive so that I can have my first go at paper mache clay. Here’s hoping I don’t ruin it!!!
Thank, Tinker – I’m so glad you’re having fun with it! 🙂
Hey there, all your work is amazing! I was thinking of taking a crack at this giraffe as a gift for a friend for their nursery but would like it to hang on the wall! Do you know if anybody has modified this as a “trophy hanging”? Do you have any ideas for how to do this?
Hi Alexis. Our friend Barbara made a giraffe for the wall (but not with this pattern so it wasn’t hollow), and we haven’t seen the final result. You can see her comment and the giraffe in progress here. The biggest problem is the weight of the long neck – a physics instructor could explain it better than I can, but you can imagine that it’s going to try to pull off the wall unless there’s a fairly large area where the sculpture meets the wall. I haven’t tried it myself.
Did you happen to see Terry’s guest post showing us the giraffe she made for a nursery? It’s made from foam board and plywood, and fits flat against the wall.
I ended up mounting mine to a picture frame. And like you said, it is very heavy. I had to make a wooden mount by tracing the shape of the neck then cutting on an angle. And had to cut the neck until I got an angle I liked. Filled the neck with mud, then screwed thru the back of frame into wooden mount into mud in neck and used liquid nails between each layer. It was a pain. But got it done and it has held.
Thanks, Pam! I’m glad you got it to work, in spite of the challenges. 🙂
Hi Jonni, I’m in charge of costumes for our production of The Lion King Jr. I already have the Lion mask templates but was wondering if this could be edited to attach to one of the head pieces from the lion templates for a child to wear?
Also, what sort of brown paper do you use – would recycled brown wrapping paper be ok?
Many thanks,
Claire
Hi Claire. I haven’t tried putting the giraffe on top of one of the caps. Many people have used it in the Lion King play by taping the bottom of the giraffe’s neck to a child’s bicycle helmet. The strong straps on the helmet help keep the mask in place. I’m not sure if the same thing could be done with the cardboard cap, but only because the neck is so long and it might tend to fall over. If you can add straps that keep that from happening, the cardboard cap ‘should’ work, theoretically.
You can see how the bicycle helmets work if you scroll up to the image that was submitted by Victoria.
I use the brown paper that comes in Amazon.com packages – the paper they use to keep small boxes from moving around inside bigger boxes. So far, it’s the best paper I’ve found. If you don’t have any, you can use the brown paper they use to make lunch sacks, but you’ll need to remove the seams.
I hope your Lion King play is a huge success! Have fun. 🙂
What color paints did you use to paint your giraffe? Did you use acrylic color paints only? I wasn’t able to save my pdf file for my giraffe, I printed it though, could you send me one?
Hi Michael. I resent your order email to you just now, in case you still don’t have the original email with the download link. If you don’t see it in your inbox, check your promotions folder. If you’re trying to download your files to an iPhone or iPad, this article might help.
I only use acrylic paints. I think it would be possible to use oil paints, too, but I haven’t tried them.
Hello
I paid, but I could not save the file. I have a problem. Please send me the file again
Mona, I sent you several emails about six hours ago. Did you get them? Are you getting an error message, or are you trying to save the files to an iPad? Be sure to check your promotions folder, to see the emails I sent before.
Gostaria do molde da girafa,sou apaixonada por girafas e faço com a técnica de enchimento de jornal com papietagem ,gostaria de fazer com os moldes ,amo os trabalhos de animais
This looks so beautiful. I wanted to make this giraffe for a play. Do you know how heavy it is (without the weight)? It would be attached to a child’s helmet so I would adjust the neck to be a little wider at the bottom. Thanks!
Hi Me. I didn’t weigh it, but it would probably weigh less than a pound if you use one layer of paper mache over the cardboard.
Hello, I love your work! Do you have a complete giraffe body template instead of only the head?
Thanks!
No, I don’t have a pattern for an entire giraffe. However, I did make a video recently that shows you how to make an internal pattern for any animal sculpture. That type of pattern will only set the outlines for you. It doesn’t do all the sculpting for you, like the giraffe pattern on this page – but it does give you a big head start on a sculpture that you create from scratch. You can see that post and video here.
Hi! I’d like to make a Chinese dragon mask (for a dragon dance) to use in a community parade (July 4, 2019). I think widening the giraffe’s nose, squaring it off, enlarging its head, and eliminating the neck is the way to go. What do you think – any suggestions? Thx! Suzan
Suzan, I think it’s a great idea. In fact, I used a giraffe head when I made my overly-large dragon a few years ago.
Hi Jonni,
Can I use the pattern to make the giraffe out of foam instead of cardboard?
Thanks
Hi Karen. I don’t know – the pattern was based on very thin cardboard, so it could be a real challenge to make it out of thicker material and get all the pieces to fit correctly. What kind of foam are you thinking about using?
Its really Fantastic …You just Amazing ..
Thanks!
How tall is the gjraffe?
It’s about 24 inches tall. I should have mentioned that in the post – I’ll add it now. Thanks for pointing it out! 🙂
Love this giraffe! I have looked thru the patterns – would love to see one for a swan.
That would be an exciting project. It would probably be easiest to do with one of the inner patterns, like I used for my book Make Animal Sculptures with Paper Mache Clay. I have a post series about a snowy owl (completely different, I know) that shows you how the inner patterns work and how to make one using photos. It would give you a good start if you’d like to make your own swan. If you do make one, please come back and show it off – we’d love to see how it comes out!
Beautifull!
Will you have a body template for giraffe?
I don’t know when I’ll have time to make a whole giraffe, and my house is definitely not big enough for one. A baby might fit…
However, we have several guest posts about giraffes. You should check out Cris Kelly’s giraffe (she has a very tall ceiling!) and Rex Winn’s much smaller giraffes. They both made their own patterns using the instructions in my book Make Animal Sculptures with Paper Mache Clay. There is no giraffe in the book, but the method for creating a pattern works for any animal. They’re not the same kind of pattern as the one I made for the giraffe on this page, which creates all the shapes for you – but they’ll get you started.
I just love giraffes, and your creation is adorable.
I watched a video by a sculptor, Forest Roger’s, and she uses ph negative mulberry paper to make feathers and wispy animal hair.
Thank you for sharing your talents with all of us.
Thanks Betty. I’ll look up that video. Is it on YouTube?
It’s gorgeous!! Congratulations, it came out so great.
Thanks!