You’ll never believe what this fuzzy white baboon is made of: paper! Canadian sculptor Calvin Nicholls makes all kinds of paper animals. He takes rectangles of paper ½-inch wide and cuts 50 little slits in each one to make teeny hairs. Then he glues them down close together with just the fuzzy part sticking out. It takes him about 10 hours to sketch a drawing, then about 8 hours to cut and glue the paper to make a sculpture. At least he now has a pet that doesn’t need to be fed!
Wee ones: If Calvin glues the next 5 pieces of paper onto that baboon, what numbers would he say to count them?
Little kids: If he makes 3 claws on the bear’s left paw and 3 on the right paw, how many claws does he make? Bonus: If each claw nail uses 10 little rolled-up pieces of paper, what numbers do you say to count up the pieces in 10s?
Big kids: If Calvin starts gluing the fur at 9:00 in the morning, and spends 8 hours working and takes a 1-hour lunch break, when does he finish? Bonus: If he can cut and glue 1 piece of paper per minute, how many pieces can he power through in that time?
The sky’s the limit: If the baboon’s fur covers an area 8 inches tall and 10 inches wide, how many tiny fuzzy pieces of paper does it use if there are 25 pieces per square inch? (Hint if needed: How many pieces of paper are there in 4 square inches?)
Answers:
Wee ones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Little kids: 6 claws. Bonus: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60.
Big kids: At 6:00 in the evening (9 hours later). Bonus: 480 pieces, since he worked for 8 hours x 60 minutes each hour.
The sky’s the limit: 2,000 pieces of paper!
And thank you Calvin for sharing the numbers behind your amazing work! You can all check out more photos here.
