Made by Noah Brennan
The Siberian Tiger was made as a companion piece to a larger giraffe head I made as a Mother’s Day gift. I couldn’t get away with making something for Mother’s Day without making something for Father’s Day. The final piece ended up measuring about 70x30x14.5 inches.
It started as a papercraft pattern I bought elsewhere online. I constructed the pattern with paper and then the plan was to reinforce it with regular old papermache newspaper. I thought it would need to be stronger to hold the papermache clay. Come to find out, it didn’t. It was a HUGE mistake as the paper pattern was obviously not water resistant. The pattern collapsed once wet from the paper mache. I was able to redo that section of the tiger and moved on. I covered the whole thing with packing tape to make it water resistant. I then papermached the whole thing, covered the papermache with more packing tape, and then added the final layer of paper mache clay. It was a nightmare of my own creation. A huge waste of time that wasn’t needed. In other projects I’ve done since then, I just covered the initial printout with packing tape and that was enough for the papermache clay to sit on.
The eyes I’m proud of. The image doesn’t show it well but they are glass cabochons of which I painted the backs. They’re beautiful and pop nicely. Close to those are the whiskers, which are plastic broom bristles painted white. The sculpture rests on the second floor of an open beam solarium. It’s the perfect location as he can glare down at passersby.
DAMN……………………………………………….
Waw! Your tiger is amazing! The facial expression is just magnificent. Looks like the real deal to me (though I’m not an expert).
Is this project bothered by moisture/rain?
I sealed mine with a permanent liquitex varnish, but it’s not totally waterproof. There are methods for attempting to make papermache clay waterproof, as Jonni points out on this website, but I didn’t need that for this project.
Wow Noah, you have nailed it. I was born in the year of the Tiger so he gets a 10 out of 10 from me.
Wow – What an amazing piece of art !– You definitely have an eye for the details. That’s truly an exquisite piece. I hear you about the learning curve as I’ve had a few of those …” ugh … why didn’t I just do this or that” moments myself. Great work. Hope to see more from you.
Awesome! Where can I purchase the paper pattern?
Hi Sharon. I bought the pattern on etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GurkoStudioShop
That is one great tiger.
Thanks for the comments. There is always more to learn — and you did it nicely.
WOW! WOW! WOW! Your tiger is magnificent! I think it deserves to be in a gallery or museum. But then of course you couldn’t enjoy it. Congrats on a phenonenal piece.
Absolutely stunning…bravo!
Wow! He is fantastic! Also very life like and scary! He must have taken an age to do, worth every minute. Well done Noah!