Folk Art Pig Completed-Part 18-Photos

At last the folk art pig is complete.  His finished size is 38 inches long.  He is 21 inches high at the tip of his ears.  The torso is about 17 inches. 

The folk art pig was painted with a coat of acrylic gesso then flesh colored craft paints.  The nose, inner ears, and hooves were painted with a mixture of flesh color paint and burnt umber.  I finished the pig with clear polyurethane.  I had some interior water-based polyurethane at the house, so I used that rather than an exterior oil based polyurethane.  If I had been keeping the pig as an outside ornament, I would have used multiple coats of the oil based polyurethane.  I've seen paper maché figures kept outside that have been covered in many coats of oil based polyurethane, but I have never made an outdoor sculpture myself.  Maybe I'll try an outdoor sculpture one of these days.  My main problem is not creating the sculpture.  The problem is that my husband mows the lawn and complains about my art work if it gets in his way.  (See some of my earliest blog posts to view some of my outdoor stepping




I've put a lot of time into the folk art pig and have grown quite fond of him.  I will miss him.  The burn is scheduled for this weekend.  It is tempting to want to keep him, but I don't really have a place for him.  He doesn't fit with my living room decor. 

Folk Art Pig-Part 17-Photos

Today I'm blogging about creating the ears of the folk art pig.  The description and photos show here are the end result of a long process of determining how to create the ears.  Prior to this I had tried different approaches such as origami and circular ring bases for the ear.  It really took a lot of saying "What is wrong with this picture?" to come up with something that would look close to what I wanted. 

The first part of the problem was determining what shape I wanted for the ears.  Pigs ears, like a dog's ears lift and move in response to what is happening around them.  Pigs can lift their ears up into a full trumpet shape to fully tune into sound when they are alarmed.  When pigs feel content and safe, they tend to curl their ears all the way down to block out noise.  Pigs that are feeling playful or interested in something non-threatening have their ears half way up.  So the first choice I had to make about the ears was to determine the emotional state of the folk art pig.  I decided I wanted my pig to be happy and friendly.  That meant that the pigs ears had to be up and alert, but also folded slightly at the tip of the ear. 

Now that I had the ear shape determined, I had to figure out how to construct the shape.  Each ear was constructed in three parts.  The main portion of the ear, was a triangular shape.  The bases of the triangles were set on a curve.  (Photo 1)  The triangles were cut out of scrap cardboard and taped to the head with masking tape. (Photo 2)  I scored the cardboard with scissors to make it fold over to create the fold of the ear.  These sections of the ears were given two coats of paper maché in order to make it rigid enough to support the next section of construction.

The second part of the ear construction was to create the fleshy part at the front of the ears.  I cut a cardboard shape that sloped down from each side of the ears toward the center.  These pieces were taped into place with masking tape.  Then these sections of the ears were covered in paper maché.  (Photo 3)

Things still did not look quite right.  I realized I needed to fill in some of the blank space inside the ears.  The insides of a pig's ear slope inward to the ear canal.  I added strips of cardboard inside each ear.  Each strip was slanted in towards the center.  The strips were taped to the ear with masking tape and then covered with another layer of masking tape to give it some extra stability.  (Photo 4)  The inside of the ears was covered with two layers of paper maché.  Once that was dry, I covered both ears with an additional layer of paper maché.  

Next blog:  Painted and finished.

Folk Art Pig-Part 16-Photos

Today I wanted to show the basic construction of the hoof.  Unfortunately, I must have been working in the zone and did not think to stop and take pictures as I was going along.  The pictures that are on the blog today are a little blurry because I had to zero in on them from a larger picture. 

I started by drawing a basic hoof "footprint".  The footprint consisted of a circle the diameter of the round dowel plus the the pointy parts of the hoof.  (Photo 1)

After I had made four hoof prints I added folded/angled pieces of cardboard to give some height to the hooves.  The pieces of cardboard were taped to the hoof print with masking tape.  Because of the size, I had to use very small bits of tape for this part.  It was difficult to work with such tiny pieces of tape. (Photo 2)


Once I had made all four of the hooves, I taped them to the bottom of the dowels.  I used small shaped bits of cardboard and masking tape to create a sloping shape from the dowel down to the hoof.  The hooves were all covered with three layers of paper maché.  Shame on me, I did not get a single picture of this part of the process.  I just kept on working because I was running out of time (and patience).  Getting these hooves to stay where I wanted them to stay was a bit trying.

Once I had all the hooves in place, I did a test of the paint colors for the hooves.  I did get a picture of that, so at least I have a decent picture of what the finished hoof looks like.  (Photo 3)

Next blog:  Creating the ears.

Folk Art Pig-Part 15- Photos

The body of the folk art pig is pretty much complete.  Now it is time to begin working on the details that really make it look like a pig.  I need to add the tail, ears, and hooves.  Today I am blogging on creating the tail. 

Some pigs have really curly tails.  Some pigs tails are more kinked than curly.  Some breeds of pigs have longer tails than other breeds.  I don't really remember what the tail of my neighbor's pig, Bacon, looked like.  I was more focused on making sure that the front end wasn't going to take a bite out of me.  So, I had to wing it on the tail.  I decided my pig would have a curly tail.

Once I had the tail shape in mind, I had to come up with a way to make the shape usable on the folk art pig.  I started with a piece of heavy twine.  It was close to the right thickness to start with and it was bendable without having a sharp edge.  I experimented with various configurations until I came up with a shape that looked like I wanted it to look.  Then it was a matter of finding some way that would allow the twine to hold the shape while allowing me to work on it.  I could have just taped it to the work table and worked on one side at a time, but I'm running into a time crunch.  I came up with an idea that would allow me to work on it all at once.  I had a bottle of glue that was approximately the size that I wanted the tail to be when it was finished.  I taped the top and bottom ends of the twine to the bottle of glue. (Photo 1) 

Once the twine was taped in place.  I covered the twine with a fairly thick coat of white multipurpose glue. (This is a different type of glue than the bottle shown in the photo above.)  I let the glue soak in and dry overnight.  I'm not sure that this step was necessary.  However, it did help the twine hold the shape so that it did not change shape while I was adding the paper maché.  Before removing the tail from the bottle of glue I added two layers of paper maché.  (Photo 2)

After the layers of   paper maché had dried, I removed the tail from the bottle of glue and taped it to the rump of the pig.  Once the tail was taped to the pig I added more  paper maché over the tape and down the tail.  (Photo 3)  The tail actually needed multiple layers of tape and  paper maché.  The flexibility of the section of twine that had been covered by tape and had not been pretreated with glue and paper maché kept causing the paper maché to crack.  Perseverance finally won out though and the tail stayed in place.

Next blog post will be on creating the hooves.

Folk Art Pig-Part 14-Photos

The torso of the pig now has a layer of basket weave to flesh out the folk art pig.  Now the chest and rump need the same treatment to make it look a little more muscular and fleshy.  The chest (Photo 1) needed more attention because of the hard edge of the front of the basket.  I tried to just overlap the strips rather than do a full basket weave in this area.  I wanted a rounded look and the area was so tight that adding the cross strips made it stand out in hard edges.  This area was then covered with a layer of masking tape to stiffen it and to provide moisture protection from the water in the flour paste. 

The rump of the pig also needed a little shaping.  I added a layer of cross strips with a dip in the center to give the rump a rounded look.  (Photo 2)  The curve of the rump naturally lent itself to layering across it.  It had enough of a curve that I did not feel the need to do a full basket weave here either.  This area was also completely covered in tape.

After the chest and rump were covered with poster board and tape, the folk art pig was then covered in layers of paper maché.  This time the folk art pig was covered in six layers of paper maché.  (Photo 3).  The folk art pig is becoming fairly heavy.  I'm guessing it weighs somewhere between fifteen and twenty pounds.

Next blog:  Details of the tail and hooves.

Folk Art Pig-Part 13 (title correction)-Photos

I left off at the last blog post showing the armature of the folk art pig with the layer of musculature covered in tape.  (Photo 1).  At that point the muscles looked big and bulging and the torso was too thin.

The pig now needed layers of fat to make it look like a fat healthy pig.  I added some bracing to the sides and back to hold up another layer of basket weaving that would fill out the torso.  (Photo 2 & 3)  Then poster board strips were used to create another layer of basket weave which would flesh out the pig. (Photo 4)  It was not possible to weave in the sections where the braces were so strips were taped across the top of the strips beneath it.  I also used bits of masking tape here and there to keep strips from slipping over one another and creating a bulge.

The folk art pig is starting to become close to its final shape. 

For some reason the blog platform is giving me a hard time about picture placement.  I don't have enough time to work on getting this last photo placed where I want it, so make sure you scroll down far enough to see the picture of the basket weave on the torso of the pig.

Next time:  Developing the chest and rump.

Folk Art Pig-Part 12-Photos

In my last blog post I showed the armature construction for the upper muscles of the upper muscles of the hips.  The basic idea is for the area to be padded and rounded.  Once the paper plate and padding were secured with enough tape that I could see that I had the shape that I wanted I covered the plate with more masking tape to smooth out the edges.

Today I am showing the construction of  the lower muscles of the legs.  The muscle area of that part of the leg is basically fan shaped.  I used four layers of newsprint to create a fan shape.  I taped the fan into place with masking tape.  The ridges of the fan were next covered over with masking tape.  This left a fan shaped bulge to represent the muscle.

I think I have gone through two rolls of two inch wide masking tape and and three rolls of three-fourths inch masking tape by this point.

The hips and shoulders were constructed by the same method.  At this point masking tape is being used not just to hold pieces in place, but as part of the armature itself.  I am trying to get as much of the musculature complete as possible before I start adding the layers of paper mache.

At this point the pig is actually looking a bit buff.  The shoulders and hips are large but his torso is thin relative to the large muscle groups.  Next blog post I'll show the work on the middle of the pig.

Folk Art Pig-Part 11-Photos

Up to this point I have been working on creating the armature that will bear the weight of the sculpture.  The armature portion of my folk art pig is complete.  Now it is time to start adding detail.  I might also add that I have not seen a pig in person in a while.  I live in a small neighborhood that borders farm land.  One of my neighbors kept a pig name Bacon.  Bacon grew from a piglet into a good sized hog.  One day Bacon disappeared.  Rumor had it that one of the neighbors had filed a zoning complaint and the family was ordered to get rid of the pig.  Others suspected that the pig might have ended up as...well...bacon.  Anyway, I am creating this folk art sculpture from memory.  The proportions probably are not exact nor is the pig anatomically correct.  But then, that's folk art.


My first addition was a simple sheet of poster board across the torso.  There was some sagging between the ribs.  It would be easier to make the additions even if the area were level.  I did not add another sheet across the hip area because the dip between the final ribs actually worked into my plan for building the muscle structure.

The hips were the highest point of the torso.  I started there because it would be easier to create the hips then build up the shoulders to be proportional to the hips.  If I had started with the shoulders I could have run into a situation where the shoulders looked right but the hips would have to be pared down to fit with the shoulders.

Making a sculpture is in some ways like drawing.  When starting to draw you use basic shapes such as a circle, oval, cylinder, or rectangle to get a general idea of how to place your line.  With sculpture you think much the same way except using three dimensions to create three dimensional shapes such as sphere, hemisphere, cylinder, cube, etc.  The upper muscle of the hip appears rounded and a portion of a sphere.  I had to think of how to create that shape.  I decided to use a padded paper plate to create that look.  I made the padding by wadding up a sheet of newsprint to about the size of a snowball and taping it with masking tape to hold its shape.  Then I taped it onto the hip area with more masking tape. This supplied the padding that would hold up the paper plate.

The paper plate was next.  The muscle is not completely round.  I cut a slit up the paper plate in order to overlap it slightly.  This forms the upper muscle of the hip.  Of course I have to do this on both sides and make it come out evenly.  That is not is easy as it seems. 

At this point it does not seem that there has been a significant change.  Part of that is the photos chosen.  In order to show the process, you are not seeing the bigger picture right this minute.  Once the lower muscle is added and the area is covered with paper mache there will be a significant change in the appearance of the structure. 

Next blog will be creating the structure for the lower muscle.

Folk Art Pig-Part 10-Photos

I'm now at the point of adding legs to my folk art pig.  I experimented with a couple of variations in height and how I wanted to attach the legs before I actually attached them.  As I've said before, art is about problem solving.  The basket armature that forms the torso of the pig had somewhat flattened across the front, but the rest of it is rounded.  The shape did not lend itself to sitting still on something while I attached the legs as had been my original plan.  I also ran into a couple of unanticipated problems. So, on to Plan B, which did work well enough that I was able to get the legs attached.  (Remember, this is a burner project and no nails, screws, or wire are involved.)

Before anything else, I had to determine the length of the legs.  I accomplished this by stacking books underneath the armature and bracing it until I had a height that looked right.  After that I marked the placement of the legs and the line that represented the level line for the dowels that would be the supports that would hold up the pig.  Then I cut the 1 & 1/2 inch wide dowel into four pieces of equal length.  I had originally planned to use cyanoacrylate ester glue to hold the dowels in place then build the area up with tape.  Perhaps my glue was old, or perhaps there just was not enough contact between the side of the armature and the dowel, but the dowels just would not stick. That is when I switched to Plan B, which was pretty aggravating but did get the job done.

Plan B:  I flipped the armature upside down.  Using my marks as guides, I placed the dowels and used a carpenter's level to make sure each leg was plumb and level to each other.  As each leg was leveled, I taped it up with lots of masking tape.  After each strip of tape I used the level again to check to make sure the leg had stayed in place.  Let's just say that patience was a virtue here.   Eventually, I had all the legs straight and mounted where I wanted them. Once everything was in place the legs were covered with three layers of paper mache.  I allowed each layer to dry before adding another layer.

Once all the layers were dry, I flipped the armature right side up again.  Unfortunately, one of the legs had sagged under the weight of the paper mache.  Well, I tried to look at it that three out of four correctly wasn't so bad after all.  At least I could make the correction with the pig standing firmly on three level legs. 

I used a craft knife to cut through the paper mache and tape on the short leg.  I cut away the excess tape and paper mache from the dowel and re-taped the leg on to the armature.  It was much easier to do with it upright.  Once it was sufficiently taped, I put on three layers of paper mache, allowing it to dry between layers. 

There were other options for dealing with the problem of the short leg.  I could have dealt with it by cutting off another piece of dowel and gluing it to the bottom.  That option might have actually been quicker but it involved getting the saw set up and cutting something withing a 1/32 of an inch to keep it from destabilizing the otherwise stable armature.  Or I could have just waited and used paper mache to add some material when I was working on the feet.  However, the legs are bearing the weight of the entire armature.  I did not want to put additional strain on the rest of the legs.  Fixing the armature at the point of the problem seemed best.  If I were creating this project as something permanent I would want it to be done properly.  In the end, the pig is standing on all four legs.

Next blog:  Building up the musculature.