Make A Paper Mache Narwhal Bust, step by step

The built-in bookcases in the nursery have officially been filled with board books, toys, stuffed animals, framed prints, and a few other random bobs and bits that I hope our little man will enjoy feasting his eyes (and mouth?) upon. We even created an straightforward paper mache craft there on the bottom left shelf. Can you spot him?

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Norman The Narwhal. He’s FAR from a ideal specimen, but it was the sweetest project to do with soon-to-be big sister Clara. I think I enjoy him more for his handmade wonkiness than anything else. Dude has some serious character going on. So let us file this under “made by a kid with a little assist from mom for her baby brother.”

Plus, it is an straightforward craft to customize to make whatever animal you want to capture as a cheeky, faux bust display.

How We Made A Paper Mache Narwal Bust

Here was our inspiration (which is nowhere near as wonky, and quite charming indeed), and here is how Clara and I had lively subbing in paper mache for a styrofoam ball, made the horn a distinct way, used buttons for eyes, etc.

Step 1: Buy or Make Your Wood Plaque

We picked up a small wooden craft plaque from JoAnn for around $3 with a coupon, but you could also cut your own shape out of a piece of wood if you’d prefer.

Step 2: Paint Or Stain Your Plaque

We chose to paint our plaque white using a leftover sample container we had around. This was an straightforward step for a 3-year-old to assist with. Plus, you could choose any color or choose to stain it for a wood grain look.

Step 3: Add Your Paper Mache Ingredients

Admittedly it had been a while since we paper-mached anything, but luckily you likely already have the ingredients around the house: it is simply flour and water. Here is another strong paper-mache walkthrough if you’d like to see this process on video!

Step 4: Mix Until Smooth

Mix your flour and water in a bowl until you get the consistency of thick soup. We made waaaay too much). Clara Enjoyed this part, hence the comically large batch. She kept wanting to add more water and more flour and “stir, stir, stir” things up.

Step 5: Build Your Animal Head

Next, we used some small strips of newspaper dipped in our “soup” to make our narwhal head. Most paper mache crafts have you layer these soggy paper strips over a balloon. You can easily customize the size of your project with a balloon. Plus, it removes easily (simply pop it!) when your paper has dried.

We did not have a balloon handy so we sort of simply crumbled up a ball of paper to build around. It did not make for the smoothest wrapped up project, but having a lightweight base that we could leave under the shell did assist constructing the narwall head in the following steps. So perhaps not having a balloon was a glad accident!

Step 6: Built Your Narwal Tusk

While our paper mache dried, we turnd our attention to the narwal’s tusk. For ours, we found a small wood dowel and trimmed it to about 5″. But a pencil or firm straw would also work!

Step 7: Wrap Tape To Create Your Shape

To create the tapered horn shape of the tusk, we gently coiled some painters tape from the top to the bottom of the dowel, wrapping larger loops as we went. We could’ve used more paper to form a cone under the tape, but we were going for a lightweight tusk so it would not sag.

Step 8: Wrap Decorative Tape On The Last Layer

For the final layer of the tusk, we switched to a yellow polka dot washi tape that I had on hand. It is hard to see in the pictures, but it was a pleasant way to introduce a little bit of lively pattern. We also coated the tusk in a layer of matte Mod Podge simply to lock everything in place.

Step 9: Paint Your Paper Mache Head

While our Mod Podge dried, we paintd our narwal head using some blue craft paint. But again, this is a strong chance to customize yours with whatever color suits you!

Step 10: Glue A Screw

In order to put the tusk to the head, we first used Aileen’s Tacky Glue to glue a long screw to the inside of the dowel of our horn, which we let dry for a pleasant long time.

Step 11: Attach The Tusk

Once our narwhal face was dry and the glue for our screw had cured up, we screwws it right in to the paper mache for that horned look. I even made a small pilot hole with our drill to get things began (Clara LOVES anything drill related, so this was a thrilling step for her as well).

Step 12: Add Personality

We glued on some buttons to give our narwal eyes and drew a small smile on with Sharpie, but truly anything goes at this point. Give it a bow! Draw freckles! Add a hat! Have lively!

Step 13: Glue To Your Plaque

With the narwal fully constructed, we used more glue to attach the head to our painted plaque from the first step. We also brought in some dash marks around the border with a paint pen, and brought in string to the back so it would hang.

This was such a project to involve our daughter with, and we think the final creation is so filled with personality (plus truly screams “a 3-year-old helped make this!”).

Over the years I have been asked if I think obviously fake creations like these (or a ceramic ram head, or a cardboard deer head) might glorify the act of mounting an actual animal head. I am sure everyone has distinct opinions about this (it is such a highly personal thing) but I have thought about it for a while, and I do not believe faux taxidermy makes any sort of pro-real-taxidermy statement. To me, it is simply like using faux sheepskins in our house instead of real ones, or how people might buy faux fur coats. Another example would be how animal rights activists like Stella McCartney will design things with faux leather (real leather = against her beliefs, but she’ll use the imitation to make a statement that there are strong alternatives to the real thing).

Now I am excited to start in on some other personality-adding details, like a pair of colorful curtains, and a large-scale mobile for over the crib. This is simply some bad photoshop below, but I have an old manzanita branch that I think could be lively with plenty of colorful shapes hanging off of it at a ton of distinct lengths and depths.

So those are next on the list. What are you folks up to when it comes to bookcase-filling and art-making? Anyone else breaking out the paper mache? Clara kept trying to eat it, which was both comical and surprisingly ok (it is made from flour and water).

Psst- To see our nursery progress from the quite beginning, here is the planning and rug-buying post, the dresser-sourcing post, the wall and ceiling painting rundown, the first half of built-in building, the second half of the built-in project, and how we brought in crown molding and a homemade crib skirt.