The giraffe peeks out above a row of houses in Ely and is made out of measuring tapes
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Towering above the houses alongside the waterside in Ely is a giraffe made out of measuring tapes. If you've ever glanced up at the row of houses near the River Great Ouse, you may have seen the animal's head poking out among them.
Sarafa the Giraffe was installed in 2019 and is now one of Ely's quirkiest landmarks. She was made by artist Wesley West who interwove a metal frame with 230 metres of fibreglass measuring tapes.
The sculpture pokes out from one of the houses belonging to George and Rachel Peacock at the waterside and is easily missed at street level. But it's sure to delight all who do look up and photos of the sculpture are frequently posted to social media.
At street level, a plaque tells the story of Sarafa's origins. Written by Wesley, it says: "From initial drawings and design a small 3D printer model was formed. The scale of the final giraffe sculpture was worked out which was twenty-one times bigger than the 3D model.
"The 3D model was dissected into its individual parts and each part was remade in wood twenty one times larger and assembled with metal straps into the form of the giraffe. This is called a maquette (mock up).
"This maquette was then lifted into the position that you see it in today to check that we had the scale correct and the final position could be ascertained. Now we could begin the real sculpture.
"With the skills of the blacksmith Mike Overall the maquette was remade in metal. When the metal framework was finished I began the task of weaving the skeleton with fibreglass measuring tapes... 230m in all... giving me a great respect for basket makers.
"The finished sculpture was hoisted by hand into its position on the roof top overlooking Ely on the 11th August 2019. From the initial idea to the finished sculpture was one year, nearly to the day."
Have you spotted Sarafa? Let us know in the comments below!