Sock puppet pigeons...

I find my job frustrating at times - mostly because I have very little time at home at the moment and seem to be bogged down in office politics and jobs that seem to take forever to complete.

However, this week I had a minor blessing in the fact that a pigeon needed to be made for a play... And it needed to look a bit kooky...

I got some inspiration for the pigeon from the sock monkey I made a few months back. And bought a cheap pair of knee high socks in grey and set to work.

I find the best place to start when trying to make a sock animal is to cut the foot part of the sock first and then add to it with the rest of the sock.

The toe top was manipulated into the head and then the bottom tail was then formed by some creative cutting and sewing.

The two wings were made with a few cuttings from the socks too...

I stuck on eyes, beak and pipe cleaner legs and secured them with silicone glue as they had a weeks worth of show to survive.

So this is Duncan... Long story but he was named by one of my work collegues...

Has anybody else out there made sock puppet pigeons?!

Rats!

The summer term is always packed with exams and stressing students but the one breath of fresh air is the middle school play which is an adaption of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere called 'London Below' and the set is currently being constructed, script being written and the props are being made...

I sometimes dread when my head of department writes the scripts as you never know what props she is going to come up with. The latest one that she wanted some rats made which can sit on your hand but also not look realistic and look handmade... This is right up my street!

I first made a paper version at my desk to work out how big it needed to be and then took it apart to make a template.

I then found some scraps of felt that I had in my stash of stuff which sits in a basket and cut out a body in the felt and stuck it together.

I cut out two ears and sewed them on and added scraps of red for the inside of the ears.

With a length of red material I rolled it up into a tail - and the fact that it is very creased seemed to help!

I sewed the eyes and added the whiskers...

And voila! A quick rat puppet!

When I make the next ones I hope to do the following:
1) sew down the body to make the seam join stronger
2) use embroidery thread for the eyes to make them stand out a little more
3) stiffen the felt with starch spray to make it more rigid!