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September 29, 2010 11:29 AM

How would you go about making 7-foot-tall (approximately) elephant tusks?

I have friends who throw a themed New Year's Eve party every year, and they go all out. They go all out, and I mean all out. The theme one year was 50's Italy and they had a little Trevi fountain. This year the theme is Explorers and the hosts very much desire large faux elephant tusks to place in front of their fireplace. Another friend and I (stupidly?) agreed to take on the task, and as I am the more cautious one, I come to you, Ask MetaFilter, for advice.

I was thinking chicken wire and papier-mâché at first, but I really want them to look as authentic as possible without spending a fortune or making them too heavy to move. What's our best bet? Chicken wire and papier-mâché? Plaster of paris and....what? Some sort of form? I don't know! Hope me, Ask MeFi!

p.s. They don't have to be 7-feet-tall, but I think they'd like them to be at least 5-and-a-half feet tall.

posted by cooker girl to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (12 answers total)

Sometimes theater companies or opera companies will rent out props--you might check there first, and save yourself some work.

Rather than papier-mâché, I'd go with the casting material (plaster of paris infused bandages) and a chickenwire framework and then some really great faux painting to get the color just right. The plaster of paris will give you a smoother finish than the papier-mâché in my experience.

You can get the cast material at craft stores.
posted by agatha_magatha at 11:42 AM on September 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Chicken wire, foam rubber sheets and a hot glue gun.
posted by Splunge at 11:43 AM on September 29, 2010

Oh and, you can paint the foam.
posted by Splunge at 11:44 AM on September 29, 2010

I'd maybe start with a couple of those inflatable palm trees you get at party stores. Make sure they're the kind with a curve to them.

Tear off everything but the trunk and the base. If you break the air chamber while modifying it you could probably melt it back together with a candle. Air pressure inside will be low, or you could just stuff the whole thing with packing peanuts rather than air.

Add a point to it with paper or poster board and paint the whole thing white.
posted by bondcliff at 11:45 AM on September 29, 2010

Best answer: Working sculptor here. I would use pink construction foam. Layer a few sheets together (I'd recommend three or so so you can get the roundness you want) and clamp them together with Guerrilla glue. Shape and sculpt with sur-forms. Foam will be light and you can get a lot of contour and detailing with careful construction. Also, I would cut your foam to be the general shape of the tusks and then sand, shape and sculpt with sur-forms (you can get sur-forms and blades at any hardware store). Another bonus, if you have access to a bandsaw or jig saw, you can blow through this project in a weekend (after the Guerrilla glue sets). Good luck!

P.S. - you can MeMail me if you need any clarification.
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 11:45 AM on September 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

For rigidity I'd probably start by making 2D curved forms from ply or MDF, then wrap them in chicken wire and cover that in either papier-mâché or bandages, as others have already said. By having a solid base you avoid any problems with getting the size and curvature to match for the two tusks.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:52 AM on September 29, 2010

I think I would find some light, thin cane or dowels that were long enough. Then I would bundle them tight at the pointy end and array them around a notched wooden disk at the other (with one through a hole in the center). String a few smaller disks inside it so you can support the cross section further up the tusk and attach additional dowels as you get towards the thicker end of the tusk. I'd bend it to the curve I need, and glue it all in place. I think it would be worth experimenting with one of these tiny brad power nailers. Then I'd papier mache the shit out of it using some non-stinky glue.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:34 PM on September 29, 2010

Actually, ThaBombShelterSmith's idea is probably the best way to do it. My technique was aiming at producing a long, elegant curve, which might prove difficult to pull off freehand.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:40 PM on September 29, 2010

Papier-mâché over an armature is an excellent idea, and I would go further. You can buy a product called paper clay that sticks to just about anything; you can sculpt it, mold it, cut it, sand it, paint it, whatever. It dries pretty quickly and doesn't need baking. I recently used it to modify a mask and it worked perfectly.
posted by heatvision at 1:05 PM on September 29, 2010

3rding the construction foam. An electric carving knife can work to rough it out, although you'll want to go lightly and take breaks to avoid burning out the motor. There are hand-held hot-wire tools that carve through foam like it was butter. This makes very toxic fumes, so I'd only do this outside.
posted by hydrophonic at 1:30 PM on September 29, 2010

google on paper mache recipes. Can't find the one I'm thinking of, but when I was researching pinatas, I found quite a bit of interesting material on how sand-paper-able paper mache can be & how to get some really interesting finishes. I'm quite sure it would work well for tusks.

If you're wondering, it dries really strong. (ever gotten your hands on a paper wasp's nest?) The pinatas I made were only about three paper layers thickness, but the kids (age 3 to12) really had to beat the Hell out of it to break it open.

Just leave enough time between the beginning & end of the project to ensure good drying of each layer. A space heater with a fan can be your good friend in a time crunch, but we're still talkingup to a day for each drying cycle.
posted by Ys at 9:25 PM on September 29, 2010

Response by poster: I'm marking TheBombShelterSmith's answer as best and I'll come back and let posterity know how it turned out when we make the tusks. Thanks, everyone.
posted by cooker girl at 7:50 AM on October 30, 2010