Take the forest road less traveled.
Instead of heading down that well beaten path leading to the usual woodland animal canvas art and wall decor, try a dimensional DIY alternative. This set of adorable 3D woodland animal wall art is cute times four! The baby fox, owl, rabbit and squirrel make a charming little group of forest friends to decorate your room.
While the examples shown here are created from wood, you can easily use fabric, felt or other materials to make your own set of DIY woodland animal wall art. Use the free patterns in this post and follow the steps. Choose colors that coordinate with your style. And create wall decor that is perfect for a nursery or kid’s room with a forest or nature theme!
A winsome squirrel and a sweet bunny……
A clever fox…..
And a curious owl.
A woodland quartet!
If you like the layered, 3D look of these wood forest animals, but you do not have a saw available to cut the pieces needed, it’s usually easy to find a craftsperson on Etsy or business like WoodCraft who can cut all the pieces for you. Then all you have to do is paint and glue them together. (Alternately, just use fabric, fake fur or felt to create them. That will give you a soft, fluffy, and textural version).
Keep scrolling to find the pattern pieces to make your own woodland animal wall art below.
what you will need
- sheets of wood in different thicknesses (1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, and 3/4 inch thick) MDF (medium density fiberboard) or birch plywood will work. Or use felt, fake fur, foam or other materials as an alternative to wood
- jigsaw (if you are using wood) or scissors (if you are using fabric)
- wood glue and wood filler (if you are using wood) or fabric glue/adhesive (if you are using felt & fabric)
- paint and sandpaper (220 grit and 320 grit)–if using wood
- objects to use for eyes (like wood beads or furniture buttons)
- an epoxy adhesive like JB Weld Epoxy or Gorilla Clear Epoxy—if using wood
- Free patterns for each animal (RABBIT , FOX, SQUIRREL , OWL )
- birch wood painting panel to use as a base/frame for your art
step 1: download the patterns for each animal
Click on a woodland animal name below to view the pattern and download. Then print. If the pattern doesn’t print out at the correct size, make sure that your printer settings are set to print at a scale of 100%. After printing, use scissors to cut out the paper pattern pieces.
If you are using wood or MDF, be sure to note the thickness needed for each piece. If you are using fabric, try a combination of different textures–fake fur or fleece for the animal bodies, fake leather for wings or branches, wool felt for the grass and leaves, and buttons for eyes.
step 2: cut out
The instructions below show step-by-step how to construct the baby fox wall art. MDF (medium density fiberboard) is used in the photo examples, but you can follow a similar process if using fabric.
Place pattern pieces on the noted thickness of wood needed for each piece.
Then use a jigsaw to cut out. For the ears—you can either cut one pair, or cut a second set slightly smaller to make “2 layer” ears.
step 3: assemble, glue and sand
Next, join the pieces together.
Use a quality brand of wood glue (like Titebond III or Gorilla) to join the pieces together so that they look like the example below. If there are any areas where the pieces do not match up perfectly after you glue them together, use a little wood filler to fill in the gaps.
For the gap under the fox’s chin (which you can see in the photo below), DAP plastic wood was used to patch and fill in the space so that the body and head of the fox would look like a continuous piece. DAP plastic wood dries pretty quickly and is easy to sand afterwards. After sanding and smoothing with a 220 grit sandpaper, and adding a layer of paint–you’d never know there was ever a gap at all. (Scroll down and check out the photo in Step 4)
If you are using fabric or felt for your fox, you can use fabric glue to adhere the pieces. Or try a product like Pellon double-sided adhesive to iron and fuse the pieces together.
step 4: paint
Use your favorite colors to paint. Sand in between coats with a 320 grit sandpaper to get a smoother finish.
For eyes, use small furniture buttons, or try wood beads or clothing buttons. Or you could simply just paint little round circles. If you opt for beads or buttons, use a strong epoxy glue like JB Weld clear epoxy or Gorilla clear epoxy to make sure they get firmly attached, especially if the art is going in a kid’s room or nursery.
step 5: attach to a birch wood panel
To finish, paint a square birch wood painting panel to use as a sturdy, dimensional base. Then use a strong epoxy glue to attach the fox pieces to it.
As an alternative to purchasing a ready-made panel, you can make your own by using birch plywood or MDF (cut to whatever size you need). Add some trim molding to frame in the back and you’re good to go.
14 inch square American Easel Birch Wood Painting Panels were used as the base for the fox, rabbit, owl, and squirrel shown on this page. This brand is affordable and beautifully crafted. You can find panels in different sizes as well as different thicknesses/depths (ranging from 7/8 inch to over 2 inches).
step 6: make additional forest animals
Make the owl, rabbit, and squirrel using the patterns in Step 1 and the same process described above for the fox. Then hang them all together and enjoy!
artUcreate is an Etsy, Michael’s, and Amazon Associates LLC affiliate.
10 Comments
Love this idea looking for a mushroom, butterfly, gnome and acorn pattern or snail for my baby nursery. Secret garden theme I’m not great at trying to come up with patterns. Im hoping you can help.
They really are wonderfull, may these be used for commercial purposes? I mean sell the finished product on a webshop?
Hi! Thank you so much for asking this question. The patterns are free to be used for personal use–but they are copyrighted and cannot be used for commercial purposes.
These are so cute. Would anyone have the pattern for the bear and deer that they wouldn’t mind sharing?
Hi Teresa!
Yes, I do have a pattern for a bear as well as a deer. I’ll try to get them uploaded sometime in the next few weeks. I’ll let you know when they are available for download.
🙂
Correction: I made 8 total (the backers came in packages of four!) Fawn, Owl, Fox, Squirrel, Rabbit, Bear, Hedgehog, Frog.
I love all of the extra animals that you made for your set. A hedgehog sounds so adorable and so does the fawn and frog and bear! That is such a creative idea. I hope your family enjoys your art for years and years!
🙂
I saw these on Etsy several years ago when we were awaiting the arrival of our first grandchild. I had to draw my own patterns, and also made a bear, a frog, a hedgehog, and a squirrel. They were a bit of work, but we all loved them. Nice to have something that would work for either gender! These are definitely worth the effort! Thanks for sharing patterns. I expect it will be a positive experience for a lot of folks!
These are really nice and are just what I was looking for as I start my journey into the world of woodworking.
Was wondering what type of paints and, more importantly, what colors you used to finish these?
Thank you so much, David!
I used Behr interior latex paint colors from the Home Depot, in a matte finish. Since only a small amount is needed, I bought the paint as 8 ounce color samples. I used a paint sprayer to apply the paint (thin the paint first with a little water so that it will not clog the sprayer). That gives you a nice finish with no brush strokes.
Here are the specific Behr colors and their codes:
Squirrel: Flannel Gray N520-3 (body) and Pencil Sketch N500-4 (tail)
Owl: Loft Space N500-2 (body) and Burnt Almond 280F-4 (wings)
Branches: Antique Earth PPU5-03 and Go Go Lime P350-5 (leaves)
Grass: Go Go Lime P350-5 (tint with white to get lighter green for accent grass)
Fox: I mixed a custom color for the fox, but any orange in a pumpkin type shade would work
Rabbit: White
Hope it goes well with the woodworking!