https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/ellie-the-elephant-2 • Posted by Ryland Peters & Small
Ellie adores gardening and tending to the flowers. She waters daisies with her trunk and weeds for hours and hours. The project starts with the head as this will help you choose a toilet-paper tube with the best diameter to fit the head (see the Tip box). TIP Try a few different-sized tubes. If you find the head is too big to fit, keep cutting carefully around the edge, following the curved shape, until it fits snugly.
Ellie adores gardening and tending to the flowers. She waters daisies with her trunk and weeds for hours and hours. The project starts with the head as this will help you choose a toilet-paper tube with the best diameter to fit the head (see the Tip box). TIP Try a few different-sized tubes. If you find the head is too big to fit, keep cutting carefully around the edge, following the curved shape, until it fits snugly.
Using scissors, roughly cut out a whole cup from the end of an egg carton. An end cup is best, because there’s more cardboard here so you can cut a shape that curves up a little at one side. This will be the head.
Squeeze the head into the end of one of the toilet paper tubes, with the longer side tilted forward, until it feels wedged in (see the Tip box).
Take the head out. Measure 3 in. (8 cm) from the top of the tube and mark with a pencil. Squeeze the end of the tube nearest the mark and use scissors to cut across the tube.
Cut the other tube in half lengthwise and then cut two strips, each 11⁄2 in. (4 cm) wide, from the tube pieces. Fold them in half lengthwise to make the legs.
Hold the ruler along the tube and draw two lines, both 1 in. (3 cm) long, about 1⁄2 in. (1 cm) in from each end. Repeat this 1 in. (3 cm) farther around the tube, so the leg slots line up. Keeping the small scissors closed, place the point at the end of one of the lines, and press down, carefully twisting the scissors back and forth. Once you’ve made a hole, cut along the line, making sure the slots are big enough for the leg pieces.
Use the end of a spoon to wiggle in and out of the holes. This will make it easier to thread each leg through. Thread the legs through. When they look level, fold them inward. Trim them to a length that looks right and keeps the body steady when it is turned over to stand on its legs.
Paint the body, head, and the cereal-box cardboard gray.
Once the paint is dry, position the templates on the cardboard and draw round them with a pencil. Cut them out. Also cut a thin strip of cardboard for a tail.
Put the head back into the end of the body, and use a pencil to draw a line down the middle. This will be where the trunk goes, so make sure it is long enough for the tab to fit. Then, take head out again. Carefully push the point of the small scissors through the cardboard, pressing and twisting, and cut along the line. Insert the trunk before replacing the head in the body.
Using very tacky glue, stick the ears either side of the body by the head. It helps if you bend the ears so they are curved like the body, before gluing. Use a black felt-tip pen to draw eyes and to color in the tip of the tail. Glue the other end of the tail inside the body.
Scrunch up a piece of newspaper and push it in the tail end to give the elephant more stability.