Human Heart Made of Paper

Hey there!

I want to show you how I make a human heart out of paper.

Papier-mache is my go to technique to create molds on which I create my rope or, more recently, aluminium works.

I love this technique because it is messy and fun and allows one to create any shape and size objects.

For this tutorial I will paint the heart also. However, it is not a painting tutorial and there are many ways in which you may paint the heart even if you go for a realistic look.

glue

water

scissors

paper napkins (preferably whit if you will want to paint it)

paper (preferably used)

Make some paper balls. For the bigger ones you can place a smaller ball into a piece of paper and squish it to shape.They do not need to be perfectly spherical. The main one, whic will be the biggest and will determine the size of the heart should be oval.

Cover one of the smaller balls in glue spread with a brush dipped in water.

Place it on the right upper side of the larger, oval, ball.

Cover them both in strips of napkin to hold them together.

Place another paper ball on the left upper side of the initial one and cover them in paper napkins dipped in glue.

Make two rolls and fix them together at one end.

Place the common end on the upper right side, towards the back, of the main body.

Take a piece of paper and make a elongated cone.

Do not worry about the dimensions of the rolls at this point. You can make them shorter later, if necessary.

It will be harder to make them larger so it is ok if they are so in the begining.

Place glue on the larger end on the cone and place it on the main body, on the upper side, to the left of and right next to the two rolls just placed on the previous step.

Bend it towards the front.

Cover them in strips of napkin dipped in watered glue to hold them together.

Make a small paper ball and two rolls slightly longer than the main body, by rolling to strips of paper.

Cover the two rolls in paper napkins dripped in watered glue.

Place the ball on the from of the main body, in the middle, on the upper half.

Fix it with napkins and glue.

Place the two rolls one at the bottom and one on top of the ball fixed on the step above.

Put a napkin over the assemble and drip it in watered glue with a brush to fix them together.

An alternative to this is in the video tutorial: place the smaller ball in a napkin and roll it so that the ends of the napkin surpass the ball size.

Cut the ends of the napkin horizontally, in two and cover each end in napkin strips.

Let it dry for one day and them cut the rolls to the desired dimensions.

You may need to add layers of napkin to make the rolls more compact or create a smoother surface.

Paint the heart in red and let it dry.

Choose a reference image, just for guideline.

Start by painting the large hues /tones areas. Let it dry.

Afterwards paint the details, veins and arteries. Let it dry.

Varnish the resulted object and let it dry for one day, outside or in a room with open windows where you do not stay.

Check out the video tutorial as well.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Have fun creating! :D