A VINTAGE PAPER MACHE ELEPHANT PULL TOY

Greetings everyone!

Do you love vintage toys?  I do!  

Just last week, my crafting buddies and I got together for a play date to create a vintage elephant pull toy.  Most everything I used on this project was "stuff" that I had.  I am such a hoarder of anything and everything that looks like something I might use in a project someday.  Opportune word here is "someday". But, I think we are all a bit like that, aren't we?  I think that is a per-requisite of being an artist!  Anyway ...

(It's a bit hard to get a good photograph as the finished piece stands almost 18" tall.)

The original idea for this piece came from a project done for Graphic 45 by Nicole Eccles.  My buddies and I thought it was such a cute project but we could not find a really small paper mache elephant to fit on a 2" wooden block like Nicole used in her piece. 

So, we searched the internet and found a much larger paper mache elephant, approximately 8" tall  ... but, nonetheless, she was really cute so we decided to order her and make our own block to fit her "girth". When she arrived, we got together and started crafting!

The elephant measures approximately 6" across and 8" tall....much different from the tiny one from the original project that was probably about 2" long.  We all created our own 6" blocks out of black chipboard and covered them with papers we had each chosen that we liked.  We got as far as painting our elephants and getting our block covered when we had to call it a day.  We're meeting again this Friday to start on a new project and hopefully everyone will have their elephants finished so we can put them together and I can get a picture of all of them to share with you!



My black chipboard block is covered with some older ivory and black Graphic 45 polka dot paper.  I lightly distressed the edged of the paper with scissors.  Then I added some Wild Honey and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks to warm up the block and add a more vintage feeling. 

 I die cut the larger of Tim Holtz' 3D Star Bright using a black paper with small gold stars on it.  I cut one for each of the 4 sides and put them in place using 1/4" Scor Tape.  In the center of the side stars is a 7 Gypsies Antique Gold Brad.  Each of the stars has been lightly detailed on their raised folds with Mercury Glass Stickles. The front star on the box has an antique gold knob hot glued to the center.  To that, I have added some twine with a painted wooden knob to create the pull toy effect.

The wooden wheels have been distressed with Gathered Twigs and Black Soot Distress Ink.  The wheels will actually turn as they are glued to a small dowel rod that is cradled in a "V" shaped cardstock piece mounted to the underside of the block. The wheels are decorated with a Tim Holtz Rosette cut from some Graphic 45 striped paper.  The scalloped ends have been edged with Mercury Glass Stickles.  The hub caps are made from antique gold bottle caps with a vintage circus elephant image in the center. They are hot glued in place.

I love my elephant whom I have affectionately named "Ella". I think she is so cute and she was a ton of fun to bring to life! Originally just a brown paper mache, I painted her with a medium gray color and then lightly distressed her with Black Soot Distress Ink. I then added "toenails" with my Signo White Pen followed by an outlining with a permanent black Micron Pen. I drew in two black eyes and added white highlights.  She's a bit of a glitzy girl so I added the little rhinestone bracelet to coordinate with her glitzy party hat and full tutu.

Her hat is made from a scrap of paper from Graphic 45's Le Cirque paper; appropriately enough, covered with elephants on bicycles. Then I added a piece of Bethany Lowe's black and orange tinsel (that is tightly twisted together) to the bottom and also as a top knot.

My elephant is a circus elephant so I thought she needed a fancy tulle tutu. It is made out of black and ivory tulle that has been lightly sprayed with Dyan Reaveley's new Tangerine Dream Dylusions Ink Spray.  I simply layered the tulle and gathered it together with a needle and thread enough to go around her rather large tummy.  Then I sewed the two ends together and hot glued the tutu in place. Finally, I pulled the tulle apart to make the tutu nice and fluffy. I love it!

I added a little hair to her tail from some extra doll hair I had laying around.  As a finishing touch to her tush, I added a little metallic gold shiny bow. 

She is carrying a Le Cirque banner by her trunk.  It is lightly outlined with Mercury Glass Stickles. One side says "Spectacular" the other side says "Circus".  I added a Maya Road stick pen with a star to the top.  I colored the clear plastic star with a Gold Paint Dabber and then coated it in Mercury Glass Stickles.  I added a few curly pieces of gold shiny ribbon ... the same that I used for making the bow on her tush. Finally I added a piece of black seam tape that had been spritzed with water and then crumpled up to make it look more vintage.  Then I tied a shabby bow.

All circus elephants need a ball, don't they?  So I painted a 1 3/4" wooden ball with a light red-ish color.  I heat embossed some Queens Gold (embossing powder) stars from Tim Holtz' Bitty Grunge stamp set onto white tissue paper and then tore around them.  I added them to the ball using Matte Multi Medium and then added little bits of torn white tissue paper all over the ball to blend the stars on tissue into the ball better.  The ball was more white-ish than I wanted to I added a little water to the paint and lightly brushed over the ball again to deepen the color.  Then I spritzed over the ball first with Forever Red and followed by Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist.  Then heat set.  The gold embossed stars got a little lost on the ball so I carefully re-heat embossed them with the Queens Gold and heat set them again.  Finally I lightly went over the ball with some Walnut Stain Distress Ink to add a bit of aging and I added a bit of Mercury Glass Stickles to the stars.  Now I was happy with the vintage look of the ball. I hot glued it in place between my elephants front legs and added a small strand of tickets (lined in Mercury Glass Stickles) from Graphic 45's Boardwalk paper.

This sweet little elephant will be displayed in my craft room.  But at Christmastime, I think she will be perfect sitting under my vintage style Christmas tree with other real and hand crafted vintage toys.

The best part about play days ... creating art with dear friends; laughing and talking and enjoy each other's company so much! What a wonderful way to spend a day! 

I am also entering Ella in the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge that is all about Sparkle, Glitz, Glam!  I think with Ella qualifies with her glitzy rhinestone bracelet, glam fluffy tutu, very stylish party hat, and her sparkly bow on her butt!  :)  Check out this fabulous challenge!

Enjoy your week!