Momma and her Ducklings

I chose to do a duck for my paper maché project as a second year art
student in sculpture. I chose to do a duck because ducks symbolize
freedom and adaptability. At this time, me and my family had finally
found the freedom to do to what we needed to do and we had to adapt
to our new lives. So I started my sculpture by balling up paper and
taping it together. Once I created the shape I needed for my duck’s
body and neck, I added the head on. As I added the head, I realized it
needed a beak and that plain paper wasn't going to cut it. I decided
to use foam board to create my beak. After I cut out the shape and
taped it onto my duck, I found that the beak wasn’t going to stay up by
itself. So my next step was adding wire around the beak and head to
keep the beak straight out how I needed it to be. I then had to tape some
paper around the beak and head to make the shape flow better. Next, I
added the tail feathers by cutting out teardrops of paper and cutting out
little pieces from the side to make them look like feathers. I then repeated
this many times to make my feathers stronger and look more full. Next, I put
paper maché around all of the body, neck, head, and tail feathers. The tail
feathers were one of the hardest parts to paper maché. After I finished the
body, I had to make the duck’s legs and webbed feet which was the hardest
part of this whole project. I began by making a single wire armature. Then, I
wrapped more wire around the legs to make them strong and sturdy enough
to hold up my heavy duck. I repeated this process to make the second leg
and made sure they were the same size. I then had to wrap paper and tape
around them to smooth them over a little. I then paper machéd around the
legs and feet. The webbed feet was another one of the hardest parts to
paper maché. After both pieces were dry, I had to attach the legs to the body.
I began by sticking holes into my body. Next I had to put my legs up into my
body and glue. As I was doing this, I had to be sure that they were the same
length do the duck the would stand correctly. After I made my first duck, I
decided to make two ducklings to go with her. I repeated the same process to
make my ducklings, only smaller than the big duck. After each duck was dry
and hard, I had to paint. I painted the baby ducks a dull yellow and the momma
duck white. I painted the feet, legs, and beak a light pinkish color on all three
ducks. After everything was painted, I felt that the ducks needed something else.
I decided to put a shiny paint over top of the body, neck, head, and tail feathers.
Putting the shiny paint on all of my ducks really unified and brought my piece
together. I found a piece of wood to put them on and painted it black. As I tried
to stand them up, they wouldn’t stand right. So as I positioned them on the wood,
I had to put them underneath and on top of each other to let them support each
other. After I glued each of the feet to the board, I felt that it still needed something
else. It needed to set up higher. So I took another chunk of wood and glued it
underneath the first piece to give the base height. I was finally done. If I were to of
done anything different, I would’ve made my legs in a different way to make sure all
of my ducks stood well.