DIY Paper Mache Deer Head for around 20$

So I have tried for quite some time to convince myself  I really didn't like those fake deer heads, that I really didn't need one, and they probably wouldn't be in style that long.. the real reason? Have you seen the price tag on some of those things? I just can't spend that on wall art that I was pretty sure I could replicate. My husbands response? A bullet is like 3$... yeah not going to happen, I wanted wall art not a dead animal on my wall, it just isn't the same. No offense to anyone who does have a trophy buck displayed at home.

WEST ELM 99$ 

So the thought process. I knew I needed a base for the molding of the deer.. I came across this free template found here. I took it to Fedex to have it enlarged. Im not sure what percentage they increased it, but I  had it printed on their largest paper which I believe was 46x36 and was 9$ to print. While I was there I also saw a perfectly lovely size cardboard box. It was called their golf box and was 10$. I decided to get it since I really didn't want to haul my two kids all over town looking for cardboard, but if you have some you could make this for even cheaper.. I also picked up some scotch masking tape from there which was probably more than at walmart, but again I was lazy. 

After Ryker was alseep I cut out all the paper pieces and traced them onto my cardboard box. I used an exacto knife to cut the pieces out. I found it worked best to score the top then kinda saw through in a up and down motion.. just watch your hands and floor. 

Kinley helped me assemble the head it went together pretty easy. 

Next I cut out a couple triangles to help shape the bone structure of the nose and eye bones.. and of course I forgot to take a picture... but I just hot glued the pieces in place and shaped them to how I wanted them.. I also made the front flaps for the ears to make them more 3d.. again I used hot glue to attach. I used a thinner cardboard for that part. 

I then started working on taping and smoothing out the ridges between the pieces. 

I just continued to stretch the tape over the ridges to hide the rough edges and make a more smooth texture molding it as I went. 

Here he is all wrapped and read for the paper mache. 

I had never done paper mache so I did some googling and watched a couple videos. It was acutally pretty easy.  I didnt try to make it super smooth. I kinda liked the different texture. I decided to use viva paper towles, and a past recipe.

I doubled this.

1/4 cup plaster of paris

1/4 cup white glue (elemers ect)

1 tblspn cold water

1 tspn vinegar. 

****DO NOT POUR PASTE DOWN YOUR SINK PUT IT IN A BOWL YOU CAN JUST THROW AWAY, UNLESS YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SERIOUS PLUMBING PROBLEMS***********

PAPER PUT ON

You basically tear you paper towels in half and tear the clean edges off to make them rough they blend better that way. Then dampen them. Paint your paste on your form with a cheap paint brush. I used one of those little cheap wooden natural bristle ones. Then lay your paper over and stretch it to fit. Tear off where needed. Here is a video I watched to learn how to do it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf5Cp48d0VA

I let him dry over night. 

I painted him in the morning a light blue I think it was Behr valley mist and did the antler a dark chocolate brown. Im very happy with how he turned out.

These pictures really don't do it any justice it looks great in the space and it shows up much more blue than the photos pick up. 

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or email me I will try to answer promptly. Hope I inspired someone who also was thinking they really don't need a fake deer head :). 

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