Masking Tape Sculptures

Suggested age for this project: 5 years old and above

Overview

Do you have a budding artist with an interest in creating 3 dimensional projects? BAM! Tape™ masking tape sculptures are a fun way to introduce young artists to the boundless possibilities of the 3D world. Whether your artist chooses to sketch out their ideas beforehand or perhaps just work with a general idea that takes shape as they go, masking tape is a fun and mess free way to experiment in the 3rd dimension. My daughter, age 11, loves to make animal sculptures. This project teaches you how to sculpt an animal with masking tape.

Materials

BAM! Tape™ Masking Tape (offer a variety of colors and widths if possible)
Aluminum foil (the less expensive varieties tend to be easier on little hands)

Let's Make It!

Step 1: What do you want to make?

Animals are an easy introduction to masking tape sculptures. Remind the artist that in our imaginations, zebras can have spots, and in my daughter’s case, pigs can indeed fly! Use story books, movies or the creatures in your own backyard as inspiration. This is a great opportunity to get your artist to describe the critters that they dream about or wish they could draw.

Once your artist has an idea of what they would like to make, they can start with a sketch, or they can just get busy with making it. My daughter, Siena, imagined a beautiful pig with blue wings. Let’s follow her process for making her flying pig.

Step 2: Sculpt the foil

After you have an idea of the type of animal that you are making, it is time to build the foil sculpture.

Start with a large piece of foil. Estimate how big your animal will be. For perspective, our flying pig is 3 inches hoof to wing tip and 3.5 inches snout to tail. Siena started out with a piece of foil approximately 1 foot by 2 feet. The beauty of foil is that if you don’t start out with enough, you can always squish some extra in!

Take the foil, and start squishing to form the shape of your animal.

Form the body and the legs; don’t worry about things like ears or wings just yet.

Remember, your sculpture is just beginning, so don’t worry about whether it looks like a pig, rhino or spotted zebra just yet.

Step 3: Apply masking tape to the body

And now the fun really begins. First you need to decide on a base color for your animal. Siena decided to go with a pink pig. Begin wrapping the body in tape and use your ﬁngers to squish and smooth the foil that is under the tape. Use several layers of tape so that the shape is smooth and sturdy. Remember to sculpt in dimensions like eye sockets, snouts or muscles if this ﬁts your vision.

Once you have the body formed, it is time to add features like ears, feet, tails and in our pig’s case, wings.

Take small pieces of foil and build the features.
Cover the each feature with masking tape in your choice of color
You can use permanent marker or pens to enhance the features.
Attach the features to the body, using masking tape to sculpt it into position.

Step 4: Finishing Touches

Now that you have your animal sculpture built, take a look at it and imagine any additional features that you would like to add. Does your zebra need spots or perhaps blue stripes? Maybe some purple eyes, or in the case of our pig, black hooves. Remember, if you add something and change your mind, masking tape is forgiving; just peel it off and try again!

Siena added eyes and hooves to her pig to complete the look. Isn’t he adorable?

Wrap It Up!

I hope that you enjoyed this BAM! Tape™ masking tape project. Siena loves adding creatures to her zoo, and each sculpture gets more detailed and whimsical! When I see her creations, I know that she has been using her vivid artist’s imagination, enhancing her ﬁne motor skills, and best of all having fun! This is a great project to do at either a home or school party. Imagine a Star Wars party where your guests design and sculpt their own light sabers! Have fun and be creative!

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