You haven’t lived until you’ve made a giant paper mâché head. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but it is pretty exciting. I’ve found that teaching 3D art in a school without a kiln forces me to think outside of the box and embrace some slightly goofy and larger-than-life ideas, and these paper mâché heads definitely fit into that category. My students are loving this project because it challenges them but also allows them to be a bit kooky and playful. Plus, they’ll end up with a wearable paper mâché head at the end, and who wouldn’t love that?
Planning Paper Mâché Head Sculptures
We started this project by choosing a notable person that the students would like to sculpt. I had the students collect a range of photos of the person so that they could use those as references for the head shape and facial features. We also studied standard facial proportion to help us determine the size and placement of facial features on the head.
Paper Mâché Head Construction
Once planned, we started on the construction. You can see the detailed instructions for the construction of this project in the handout below and you can download a free .pdf file at the end of this post.
Basically, each student needed to make a cylinder of cardboard that fit around their head, without going over their shoulders. The cylinder should cover their entire head and extend around 4-5 inches above the top of their heads, when worn. We created the cylinders by using an Xacto knife to score lines in cardboard to make it curve. We then formed it into a cylinder and secured it with tape.
The remaining construction steps involve using cardboard and newspaper to secure the form and sculpt the face. The sculpting consists of crumpling the newspaper into different shapes and securing it on the head with tape. We then cover the entire form in tape to give it a smoother surface on which to add the paper mâché.
The students are just now starting on their painting. We are discussing trompe l’oiel painting techniques to add the appearance of texture and details in areas like facial features and hair. This style of painting tricks the eye into perceiving painted details as three-dimensional objects, so it can be used to enhance the form of our sculptures. I’m excited to see how they turn out and I’ll be creating another post for the finished products so check back soon for that.
Interested in trying this project in your classroom? Download the handout below.