David has accumulated plenty of coats and jackets, the the point that it seems like they’re everywhere. Last weekend I thought it would be fun to make something to hang them from. Well, since David enjoys hippos….
I started off drawing the little guy in PhotoShop Elements with my tablet…
(wow, enough dust in there? sheesh)
Printed, cut it out, traced it onto a piece of wood…
A few minutes of jigsaw work and it’s ready for some paint! Notice the wooden version lost a tail – it was just too thin for my skills and tools to be able to cut. After the paint I’ll be putting it atop another piece of wood along with some coat hooks.
It was fun and took just over an hour from drawing to cut-out.
The Johnson Blog 
5 responses to “Hippo Comes to Life”
For finer detail work like the tail, use a belt sander (bench mounted) or dremel to sneak up to the detail line. The dremel will also let you groove out the details in the jawbone and leg lines.
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Ah, great idea. And that’ll make a good item for my Christmas list.
Thanks Scott.
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Oh, how cute! Eric, you and Ana put me to shame–you’re so creative.
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Thanks – I actually just painted it this afternoon and am now waiting for the first coat to dry.
It’s going to be attached to a simple piece of wood with routed edges and painted white. I’m hoping that it’ll be done tonight and I’ll post more photos.
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[…] The Hippo is up on the wall and holding up David’s coats! […]
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