How To Make An Upcycled French Farmhouse Rooster

by Borei Design

5 Materials

DIY craft tutorial how to make a paper mache rooster or chicken sculpture with a vintage French flair using primarily recycled materials.

how to make an upcycled french farmhouse rooster, how to

First I sketched out the basic body shape on the back of a piece of scrap wrapping paper.

I used the shape as pattern to cut out his base from an old cardboard box. I then padded the form (with a little glue to secure) using used paper laying around the home...almost any type of paper will work...used notebook paper, newspaper, wrapping paper, bills....after all they should be useful for something, right? ;)

Then I wrapped him in paper masking tape and covered him with paste dipped strips of newspaper.

I added the facial features, tail feathers and

wings using more cardboard and paste dipped newspaper strips.

I made legs and feet from an old wire hanger, attached them to the belly and filled in with more newspaper. In this picture you see cardboard toes. On a whim I ended up cutting up leftover popsicle sticks from ice cream fudge bars to make the toes. They happened to be laying in my work area at the time and I have noooooo idea how they got there but they sure come in handy! ;)

I then covered the entire project with Activa CelluClay and allowed it to dry for a couple of days.

I searched an online French library's archives and scored a scan of an 1827 French newspaper. I made laser print copies at a local copy shop and decoupaged it in strips using Mod Podge.

Note: this scan is now free for printing on my site so digging through French library archives is no longer required.

I added some acrylic paint to some of his features, sealed it with more Mod Podge and it was all done!

I promise you that although he took a little time he was super easy to create!

He was well worth the effort and I have broke down each small step for you in my original blog post .

For more in depth instructions, free French newspaper printable, drying instructions and my favorite paper mache recipe be sure to check out the full tutorial on the project tutorial and my site.

Until next time, happy crafting!