Paper Mache Baboon

He was originally going to be the base of a small coffee table with a glass top.

The top was going to rest on his head, tail and hands but once we started working on him we decided it would be a shame to hide him under a table.

We adjusted his arms and tail but then we weren't sure what he should do with his hands. Eventually we decided to make a bongo drum for him to play.

The baboon is sitting on a base made from a circle of cardboard. The main structure for his body is a two litre plastic lemonade bottle padded out with wads of newspaper.

His legs are made from rolled sheets of newspaper and his arms and tail were built round old wire coat hangers.

The head was constructed from wadded newspaper and taped into place with masking tape. His bongo drum is made from a large yoghurt pot and was done separately.

Once we had the main shape we covered him with a few layers of strip paper mache and then coated the whole piece with paper pulp.

The fine detail such as nose, ears, eyes and fingers were moulded from the pulp. His eyelashes were made from paintbrush bristles.

Once he was completely dry we painted him with a couple of layers of white household emulsion and then with a several coats of dark wood stain.

Gawie is in a private collection in Manchester, UK.

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