Made by Janice Erickson
Lily stands 8.5 feet tall. She comes in two pieces as she weighs about 70 pounds when she is all together. Since I am unable to carry 70 pounds, I made her in two pieces so I am able move her around by myself. When I finish painting her, I plan on putting a beautiful Giraffe Scarf around her neck, and you will never know she has a seam there.
Anyway, she has several coats of cement on her, plus sealer, plus several coats of spray and brushed, exterior house paint. I will start her spots next, and then coat her with two more layers of clear sealer. She will live in my flower gardens in the summer, and our living room in the winter. Grin I am a bit nervous about painting her face….I am not a painter, nor do I draw. So I do not know how to mix colors or do shading with paints. Jonni, (or anyone) did you ever make a video of you painting your Giraffe’s face?????? If not, I guess I will wing it. Enjoy!
Very impressive, Janice! For some reason I didn’t turn on the video when I was painting my giraffe, but I included a lot of still photos with the pattern, starting on page 34. And I used the same colors that my daughter, Jessie Rasche, used when she painted a Jersey cow for us. You can see her mixing the paints here. I didn’t really know how to paint a giraffe, either – I just looked at a lot of photos, and tried to come as close as I could, but I was also trying to keep the painting fairly simple. I think it worked. 🙂
I can’t wait to see Lily when she’s done and in the garden – it’s been a lot of fun seeing all your progress photos.
I forgot to mention that when I say “Lily, my cement Giraffe”……what I want to add is that I have used Jonni’s recipe of PAPER MACHE CLAY RECIPE, but instead of flour, I used Portland Cement. I made large amounts of the recipe and put two coats of this “cement, paper mache clay recipe” on her.