Sculpture is the stuff you trip over when you are backing up trying to look at a painting
(Jules Olitski)
What’s in a sculpture?
The subjects of a moolee moolee sculpture can range from the realistic to the bizarre. For a fantastic effect, it is best to incorporate 3-D works into a mural, as opposed to having them stand alone. Nonetheless, it is possible to create freestanding sculptures such as lamps, furniture and decorative objects or animals and toys out of papier-maché.
The art of papier-maché
In art school the artist majored in sculpture and created 3-D works in many different mediums, but she has now adopted papier-maché as her preferred medium for decorating children’s room. Besides being a great way of recycling existing resources, it is nontoxic, lightweight, easy to paint, sturdy and looks handmade. It is a medium all children know and use in their own crafts, so they tend to relate to it at a very basic level.
The boon about working with papier-maché is its cost; moolee moolee sculptures are affordable because the client is charged only for the time it takes to make them and paint them. Sculptures in other mediums would be far more expensive, given the cost of the raw materials or the power tools and studio space needed to build them.
For clients who prefer a slick design look, rather than a handmade appearance, it is possible to make papier-maché look almost like plastic or fibreglass. Of course, to achieve this look requires a lot more coating and sanding and priming and varnishing; basically, more time and extra materials, which in turn affects the price of the sculpture.
