Today, we have a guest post by Irma Holguera, who made this delightful paper mache dinosaur for her son.
Today, we have a guest post by Irma Holguera, who made this delightful paper mache dinosaur for her son.And lucky for us, she agreed to show us how we can make our own dinosaur. He’s a fierce-looking fellow, even when he’s wearing his Christmas outfit.
Be sure to click the images below to see the full-sized pictures. And now, read on …
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How to Make a Paper Mache Dinosaur
I started a paper mache Dinosaur sculpture for Christmas decoration (for my boy), and made a Coroplast pattern and assemble it.
Then I started adding paper and tape, playing with shapes. For the claws and feet I use aluminum foil and wire.
For some datails in the head I also used aluminum foil. The spikes are made of cardboard.
I started to have some problems keeping it stand up, the paper on his head made it heavy and tumble down, so I hid a weight out of cast on his tail, problem resolved.
The eyes, teeth and other details are made of air dry clay.
Then I spread the paper mache clay all over and let it dry for 2 day. I used a PVA glue named “Resistol 850 Profesional”
When it dried it started to fall down again, the paper clay made his head heavy. So I made a wedge for his foot with the air dry clay.
I painted with a medium grey and let it dry. Then with an almost dry brush with white acrylic paint made some lights.
After it dried I used a watery black color for shades and dried it with cloth. The I painted the eyes and feet.
Irma Holguera
This is awesome!
Hi Irma, I just finished my paper mache dinosaur.
Justin, your dinosaur is beautiful. I especially like the way you painted it – it looks almost as if it’s wearing medieval armor. But this post is so old, I’m afraid a lot of people will miss seeing it. You might want to repost the image over on the Daily Sculptors page. There’s a link to it at the top of the site, so a lot people go there every day to see what’s new. I know everyone will love it.
Toturial?
Hi Irma,
I was looking through old posts and saw your dinosaur. Awesome job! I volunteer in a preK classroom and we made an apatosaurus one year. I was concerned about how to keep a T-Rex upright. You came up with a great solution. I love your dino color and details.
I love your dinosaur. It looks so awesome.
Can I ask how do you make him so big? Do you just keep putting paper mashy on top of each our once dry?
hello! my skeleton was big since the beginning, and I just put newspaper for the volume.
That looks really good. I think I may have to add this to my ‘to make’ list
This is great! The paint job really makes it.
Maybe some weight in the belly or legs would have stabilised ‘dino’ and saved having to do the foot-wedge. But then again its for a child so dont want it too heavy overall.
I love your dinosaur and your tutorial. Thanks!
Nice job! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Irma, I like your dinosaur he’s very cute!!!
Hi Irma, your son is going to love his dinosaur. It is cute and ferocious, and, it really does not look that hard to make.