Thursday, March 19, 2015

Hippo before and after


Another short break from painting flowers to show you what I made for Year of the Spark.

A few weeks ago, we got an assignment to do “wrapped animals.” You could either start from scratch using wire only, make a shape, and then wrap it.

Or, start with a stuffed animal, wrap it with wire to give it more shape, and then wrap it with cloth, etc.

I started with a stuffed hippo I got at the Goodwill for 50 cents. And, of course, I forgot to take a photo BEFORE I started … so … here is a little doodle of what it sort of looked like.


Orange, stubby legs, long black yarn tail. You know, just like a real hippo!

Here’s what I came out with in the end. This was hard! You should have heard the swearing early on!!


Then I left it out on my work table and the dog got hold of it. Most of the stuffed toys in the house are HERS so I can understand the confusion.

I had to start over again with the wrapping and the swearing. But then it got easier.

I gave the hippo longer legs and some antlers.

Yesterday, I finished it off with extra yarn embellishment. I had some old paper “beads” that I made years ago. I used them for a project and now they just sit in the drawer. So I added beads for a headdress and some more on the tail.


I like how it turned out but probably won’t be doing this again. I like working in 2D art, not 3D. Just not my thing.


3 comments:

  1. Oh this is really cool! I am impressed with the "before" and "after". This very successful hippo transformation looks now like a beautiful folk art present you bought somewhere in Peru or the Andes!

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  2. Gorgeous colors and textures! I really love the transformation!

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  3. He is AWESOME!! Puts mine to shame......and I totally understand the swearing....I was using some of the same words I'm sure!

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