Many of our most popular animals have horns and antlers. This page describes how Merikay makes these, using the Elk/Wapiti and Bison/Buffalo as examples.

Elk/Wapiti Antlers

Having made the Elk sculpture, our artist begins its antlers by bending steel rods to the approximate shape of the largest member of the antlers, and anchoring the rods into the head sculpture. Next she attaches 12-gauge steel wires to the rods, for the secondary branches of the antlers. To help maintain symmetry, these wires are left as loops for now. They will be cut open later.

In the somewhat confusing picture at right, the steel rods are the outermost members, with a wooden cross attached to the back of the sculpture helping hold these in the desired shape. The highest loop of wire is held in the desired shape by a white piece of tape attached to the elk’s nose. The middle loop of three is held in place with a bamboo barbecue skewer, which Merikay has around because they’re used in Unicorn horns, Dragon wings, and to help support some large ears. As you can see, a lot of ad hoc innovation and creativity goes into shaping our Elk’s antlers, the supports being different each time.

For her own sake and for her customers, Merikay prefers to use simple, non-toxic materials. Paris Craft is gauze permeated with plaster, that until recently was used in the medical field to build casts and the like. Merikay buys it in large rolls and cuts it into smaller pieces. Boring and messy work, as shown at left.

Once she has gotten the steel rods and wires shaped like the antlers of an Elk/Wapiti (note the reference books in the background of the picture), Merikay next dips Paris Craft strips into water and wraps one or two layers onto the structure. After these have dried, she then shapes shorter lengths of steel wires like the smaller points of an Elk’s antlers, and tapes these onto the previous members. This is the point things are at, in the photo to the right. Next she will wrap these wires with moistened Paris Craft strips as well.

When Paris Craft dries, it is very strong. But if you apply another layer of wet strips to work that has dried, the combination weakens and becomes mushy and unstable. To solve this problem, Merikay wraps a layer of aluminum foil around the dried Paris Craft, as shown to the left. At this point she removes most or all of the supports. The antlers are still somewhat flexible, and she can adjust their shape if necessary, before applying several more layers of Paris Craft strips, to bring each member close to its final thickness.

This picture also shows another important step in making Elk antlers. The completed antlers weigh between 5 and 10 pounds, and are inserted into a paper maché sculpture. It would be embarrassing and not in keeping with quality craft work, if antlers fell out and went bouncing around customers’ floors. (The fact that real Elk/Wapiti lose their antlers every year, probably wouldn’t go over as an excuse.) So as Merikay is applying the final layers of Paris Craft to the base of the antlers, she also weaves more strips down into and around the head, kind of like a tourniquet in the picture to the left.

As she works the Paris Craft up toward the tip of each antler point, it starts to set up and become rigid. As the final touch in this step, Merikay then cuts each wire loop just short of the desired length of each “point”, and finishes over the end of the wire with more Paris Craft.

After the antlers have dried for at least a day, Merikay then covers the Paris Craft on the face with more paper maché strips. This picture at right shows this point in the process, for both the Elk/Wapiti and the Bison/Buffalo. When the paper maché has dried, she paints the head and back with a color close to that of the skin the animal will acquire.

After the paint on the head and back has dried, it’s time to apply the final surface to the antlers. Merikay’s current favorite is Thompson’s Water Putty. In the photo at left, she is applying it to the Elk’s antlers with a brush. Mixing the water and powder to just the right consistency is critical here, as is not messing up a surface after it’s done. Because the Elk/Wapiti’s antlers have so many points, “ins”, and “outs”, our artist will spend two or more sessions surfacing them, letting each session’s work dry for several days.

After the antlers are surfaced and have dried, they are the uniform yellow of Thompson’s Water Putty. Few if any animals have horns or antlers this color. At right, Merikay is applying the final touch of realism, a thin wash of burnt umber acrylic paint.

Bison/Buffalo Horns

Buffalo horns are a lot simpler -- the basic shape is part of the sculpture. But nowadays Merikay likes her buffaloes to have bigger horns than she did when she made the master sculpture. So, in the image to the left, she has added a piece of 12-gauge wire to each horn, and then wrapped aluminum foil around the left one to thicken and shape it. (Yes, she did the same thing on the other side, after the picture was taken.)

As for the Elk/Wapiti, the next step is to wrap the horns with Paris Craft. For the Buffalo this is only done once. Even through the Buffalo horns are much smaller in relation to the head than for the Elk, Merikay still works the Paris Craft over the head like a skull-cap, to add strength and durability. Sorry about the Elk stuff in the foreground of the picture -- our photographer was trying to combine subjects.

Again, after the Paris Craft dries, Merikay covers the part of it that’s on the head with paper maché. You can see the Buffalo at this stage in the background of one of the Elk pictures above. Go there. Then she paints the head and back white or brown to match the kind of animal she’s making.

For the Buffalo, Merikay combines the surfacing and painting steps by mixing ink with the Thompson’s Water Putty, to achieve a brownish-gray finish as shown at left. For some new animals she will be trying a new surfacing product called Ultracal 60. Click here to see the finished White Buffalo.

The next part of the “How They’re Made” story deals with Eyes.