Made by Vivian Gagnon
I had a commission to do a very large pig and I work with polymer clay of course it’s not an outdoor thing so I decided to look up paper Mâché because I saw Joni‘s tutorials and I really enjoyed watching her and learning from her. I started the pig in March 2025 and I finally finished it in November 2025. I never worked with cement before so that was a challenge and it took a bit of nerve to try it, but it was actually a lot of fun. I have two pictures. Hope you enjoyed it. The person who received the pig wants to paint it so I don’t have a picture of the actual finish painted pig. Thank you so much for the opportunity to show my work.
Hi, Vivian, you did a great job! I’m not sure I understood every step, though; did you first covered it with reinforced paper mache and then used cement over it?
I think it turned out great! Please share a little about your process, if you can. Did you use Portland cement, or any other materials?
Yes I used Portland cement and wet toilet paper but I used Tite Bond 111 for the glue. That is actually the same glue I used for the paper mache and brown packing paper to cover the masking tape form. I wanted this to be as water proof as possible so I did a second layer of Tite Bond 111 with a little water and used blue paper towels we had in our work shop. He turned out dark blue but very strong and smooth. If it wasn’t going outside I would have stopped at this stage but I knew the cement clay would hold up better. I followed Joni’s recipes and instructions and a leap of faith. It was fun !
Thanks, Vivian. This is useful info. Will you be making any more outdoor sculptures?
Your pig looks really nice, Vivian. How did you make the armature?