Pattern for a Paper Mache
Horse Head Sculpture
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Do you love horses, or know someone who does?
Create this horse head sculpture and paint it with acrylic paints to match the colors of your favorite breed.
Then proudly tell your friends “I made it myself!”
How to make your horse head sculpture:
Finished size: About 16 inches (40.64 cm) high, 14 inches (35.56 cm) wide and 6 inches (15.24 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.
Click here if you’d like to know more about how the patterns are delivered. 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. 😀
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Step #1: Putting Your Horse Sculpture Pattern Together –
The pattern also includes screen shots of every piece to show you how to put the pattern together.
Step #2: Adding Paper Mache –
You can use all paper strips and paste, or all paper mache clay – or use them both, like I did. You can find the paste recipe here, and the recipe for paper mache clay here.
Step #3: Sculpt the Mane –
You don’t need to get quite as carried away as I did, but I do love this wind-swept mane. It was messy, but a lot of fun to make. The video also gives you a few ideas for making a mane with a different style or different materials.
Step #3: Paint Your Horse –
I painted my horse very simply, with layers of paint but no fur or brush marks. There are many other ways to paint a horse, and you can find great painting videos on YouTube.
To make this paper mache horse sculpture you will need:
- Printer
- Copy paper or full-sheet labels
- Glue stick if using copy paper for pattern
- Cardboard from 2 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 (or use masking tape instead)
- Paper strips and paste for ears and eyes, and paper mache clay* for everything else
- Crochet thread for the mane, or use yarn, jute, or material of your choice
- Small plastic bag and sand to add weight to the bottom
- Acrylic gesso or latex primer
- Acrylic paint and matte varnish
- Felt for the bottom
*You can find recipes for paper mache paste and paper mache clay in the Recipes tab at the top of this site.
Helpful links:
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Some of the Horse Sculptures That Have Been Made With this Pattern:
I absolutely love everything you make. Your videos are so well done and easy to follow. You are not only a great artist, but an excellent teacher as well. My question is, what brand of clear tape do you use? Mine does not seem to stick as strongly as your does.
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Hi Karen. I use the Scotch “Superhold” brand, but any clear tape should work – except the kind used for wrapping gifts. Are you using the “disappearing” tape, by any chance? If not, what brand are you using now?
I love your work and your explanations of how to work with paper mâché and PM clay. You had a video recently that you used brown paper strips and added a’ wood glue’(?) that made the masks (work on the head) light and very sturdy. Do you ever have videos on making these patterns? There are animals I would love to try and masks but can’t quite get them right without a pattern. Thank you for sharing your inspirational work and instructions on creating PM and all the parts that go into a piece (patterns, armature,PM clay, gesso etc) I’m very grateful.
Hi Katherine. I don’t have a video about making the patterns, because they take me so long that I can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch me do it. But have you tried making a clay model of your mask and putting the paper mache over it? I have a video for that here.
What are the approximate dimensions of the finished horse sculpture?
Do your patterns work reasonably well if they are proportionally enlarged? I’d like to try a life-size horse head.
Hi David. The finished sculpture is about 16 inches (40.64 cm) high, 14 inches (20.32 cm) wide and 6 inches (15.24 cm) deep. I believe it’s about half as big as a real horse head. A lot of people have enlarged the elephant head and the lion wall sculpture, and they came out nice. If all the pieces are enlarged at the same percentage, they should fit together. If you make one, I really hope you’ll let us see it when it’s done.
Perfect… thank you. You will definitely see it, and a Fox – both of which will be featured (as puppets) in a production of Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella.