Workshop: Make Your Own Elephant Paper

From Dung to Paper

In-depth exploration of the process of making elephant dung paper. During this workshop led by an experienced instructor, you will not only make a unique souvenir—a handmade sheet of elephant paper—but you will also decorate it using various artistic techniques and learn a lot about the history and production of handmade paper. Handmade paper can be created from a wide range of raw materials—including elephant dung, or more precisely, the fiber it contains. Elephants digest less than a half of what they eat; the rest finds its way out through their dung, which is rich in fibre. This fibre can serve as a base material for handmade paper. The production of elephant dung paper has a long tradition in Sri Lanka. This unconventional material, with its peculiar texture, is used to make small gift items such as writing paper with envelopes or bookmarks.

Directly at the Elephant Paper Workshop, you can also purchase exclusive products made especially for Prague Zoo by the Velké Losiny Handmade Paper Mill. Additionally, there is an “Elephant Paper for Home” creative set available—a pack of granules with instructions that allows you to make your own sheet of elephant paper in the comfort of your home.

After the workshop we can have a lunch inside the ZOO and enjoy the rest of the day there.