I will walk you through creating your penguin armature, applying your clay, using your clay to create a beak, wings and tail.
Then we will sit down and paint our whimsical penguins together.
This penguin will take 2 to 4 days to finish; most of your time will be spent waiting on your paper mache strips and clay to dry.
You can speed up some of the drying time on low heat in the oven, set out in the sun, or at times just in front of the fan. I thought she looked so cute there.Make Your Own Whimsical Penguin
View the video tutorial to help answer any questions that you may have and I will be happy to help you anyway that I can.
1. Take your newspaper and make a large ball and wrap it in your plastic bag.
You have 2 options:
A. Apply 4 coats of newspaper strips over your entire ball to give yourself a nice shell to work on. Let this completely dry and then add 1/4 inch of paper mache clay all over your ball.
B. You can skip this step and add 1/4 inch of paper mache clay all over.
See our recipes "Quick and Easy Paper Mache Clay" and "Ingredients for Paper Mache Paste".
Let your armature completely dry.
2. Using the same batch of clay form your beck, wings, and tail. Let this completely dry. I speed up this process in the oven. I use the warm setting 170 degrees and set the penguins in until they are completely dry. It is very important that all the moisture has dried from your clay.
If you are not using clay cut your beck, feet, and wings out of cardboard. Cover the cardboard with tape or plastic and use the paper mache paste and strip. Then attach to your penguin with more stripping.
3. Sand your penguin until it is nice and smooth. I spent 30 minute sanding one penguin but I find it is worth it.
4. Prime your penguin with gesso or white acrylic for a nice starter coat.
5. Paint your penguins to suit your artistic taste buds.
6. Use a poly acrylic seal to protect and create a nice shine on your adorable little penguins.
I hope that you enjoyed making your penguins as much as I enjoyed showing you. Thank you for stopping by the whimsy's studio on the internet.
Penguin Materials Needed
Newspaper
Paper Mache Recipe
Plastic bag
Homemade Clay
Paints & Brushes
Teacher's Penguin Suggestions Plans
For the younger age children you could skip using paper mache clay and apply 15 to 20 layers of paper mache strips for a rock solid penguin armature for the children to paint.
The Penguins can be made as Christmas ornaments by adding fabric scarves around their neck and ribbon hangers during the construction process.
You will invest 3 to 4 hours on one penguin, this does not include the drying time.
3 Whimsy Penguin Facts
1. Penguins are birds that cannot fly but don't seem to mind.
2. Penguins spend 75% of their time underwater and they look like they are flying when they swim.
3. Penguins bounce and do not jump.
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