Come On England!

I’ve finished my monster scarecrow! He’s a whopping 2.5m tall (about 8 feet) top-to-toe, and 1.6m wide (about 5 feet) between his fingertips. He weighs 10 kilos (22 pounds). He is supported on a rigid, cross-shaped wooden frame. This is a simple scarecrow design that is often shown on websites, but it has limitations that can prove rather frustrating. Here’s what I learned, while making my massive England fan.

The armature for my scarecrow was made from two pieces of wooden tiling batten (50mm x 25mm). The vertical batten measured 2.4m long (7’ 10”) and the horizontal one was 1.3m long (4’ 3”). He is so tall because husband David assured me that the finished scarecrow would need to be hammered a good 600mm (2 feet) into the ground, so that he would stand securely. David cut a sharp point at the foot end, to make it easier to drive into the ground. If I were to make another scarecrow using this method, I’d definitely scale the whole frame down by about a third to make it easier to handle.

I started by fixing the two battens together into a cross shape with four screws, inserting two from each side on opposite diagonals, to prevent the frame from twisting. The horizontal batten is at the shoulders, so it needs to be set only about 300mm - 350mm (12" - 14”) down from the top. A common mistake made by novice builders is to set the horizontal batten too low down the vertical stake, so that the head is marooned at the top of a very long neck. To avoid this, remember that the horizontal batten should be set at shoulder height, not at arms height.

It soon became obvious that I’d have to unscrew the horizontal batten again, in order to put my supporter’s clothes on. Here’s the dilemma! If the arms are long enough to appear lifelike, it is impossible to pull the sleeves of a costume over the scarecrow’s arms, because the horizontal bar of the frame is too long and rigid. Dressing him in a shirt that buttons up down the centre front makes it a little easier to put his clothes on, but not much.

Shortening the horizontal batten to about 600mm across (about 2 feet) makes the scarecrow easier to dress, but his clothes will dangle down limply from his shoulders even when well stuffed. Alternatively, it is necessary to slot the horizontal batten for the shoulders and arms through a T-shirt or jumper before screwing it to the vertical torso batten. Remember to put the vertical batten up through the neck of the T-shirt or jumper as well, before you screw the horizontal and vertical battens together!

I made a small innovation to the usual cross-shaped frame by screwing a small piece of thin plywood, 150mm (about 6”) square, to the top of the vertical batten at the head end. This fits inside the middle of the head bag before it is fully stuffed, so that the head cannot twist around on its neck. 

My England supporter’s head was made from a 300mm by 500mm (12” x 18”) white cotton bag that I ran up on my sewing machine. Note that this is the size of the finished bag; i.e., with the fabric doubled and seamed. Allow another inch or so for the seams. Leave one of the short ends of the rectangular bag open at the chin end, so that the head can be stuffed. I used white cotton because it takes colour well, but if I made another bag head, I’d use unbleached calico so that it would not be so stark.

I drew on a face with coloured pencils (acrylic paint is equally good) and I added two large button eyes. I have placed the features too high up on my England supporter’s face. For future reference, I have learned that the eyes need to be placed at least half way down the empty, flat face bag, otherwise, when stuffed, the scarecrow will not have a forehead and he will look distinctly odd, as mine does here.

Once I’d drawn on the face and stitched on the eyes, I stuffed the head with scrunched up newspapers put inside a plastic bag to protect the paper from the rain. At this point I attached the head to the scarecrow’s armature, easing the head bag carefully around the small wooden frame that I described earlier. After adding more stuffing to firm up the head, I fixed it tightly to the neck with duct tape. This method gives a really firm head that cannot flop about.

Once the head was held firmly in place, I finished the features. I cut out an oval nose and two large ears from cotton, stuffed them with a little Fibrefill, and stitched them onto the face to make it more three-dimensional. I’d do this again, as it does not take long, and I think it looks more realistic.

My football supporter’s orange hair and eyebrows are made from inexpensive, chunky acrylic wool that was on special offer at my local craft store, probably because it is so lurid. It certainly makes a statement! Too much of a statement, perhaps? His England hat, sourced from Party Mad (see yesterday’s blog) was stuffed with a small plastic bag filled with scrunched newspaper, and sewn to the top of his head. Fortunately, this disguises my scarecrow’s lack of a noble, high forehead!

I’ve already mentioned that I put my scarecrow’s jumper on before I fixed the armature together. Once I’d finished the head, I stuffed his jumper-covered body with plastic bags filled with newspaper, first the sleeves and then the torso. Here’s another lesson! My supporter’s clothes were sourced from husband David’s cast offs. This won’t do!

Ordinary street clothes are normally far too dull to work well for a showy scarecrow. I am making this one to test the method, but so far as a competition entry is concerned, I can only reiterate what I stated on my blog the other day, that a good theme is far more important than a well crafted scarecrow. 

Mine is reasonably well crafted but it did not start with an inspiring story line, just a heap of old clothes. His hands are made from rubber gardening gloves, currently 2 for 1 at Frost’s Garden Centre at Woburn Sands. My fan is holding an England ‘car sock’ in one hand. I may give him an England balloon to hold in the other hand whilst the scarecrow trail is on.

My England supporter’s trousers are also sourced from David’s cast offs. I made a small hole in the centre back seam and pushed the trousers up the vertical stake to the waist, where the trouser waistband met the bottom of the jumper. I pinned the two together with safety pins. This is a brilliant and easy method that beats sewing the two garments together hands down. It takes about 16 safety pins to secure the top to the trousers without gaping. Trouser waistbands are quite stiff. Watch that you do not prick your fingers, if you use this method!

The trouser legs have been stuffed with the usual plastic bags, filled with scrunched up newspapers. The legs positively eat newspaper so next time, I’m planning to try stuffing an old pair of tights, and pushing them down the trouser legs, to see if this works better.

My England supporter’s feet are made from old socks, stuffed as per usual and sewn to the bottom of each trouser leg. I wish I’d had some colourful stripy or spotted ones, but no such luck! David is thinking about buying a new pair of builder’s boots to wear on site visits. If he does, his old ones will be appropriated by my football fan, but I dare not steal them away yet!

To complete the England theme, I’ve pinned a ‘Come on England’ banner to the scarecrow’s shoulders, to ‘make sense’ of his long, outstretched arms. He’s a flying fan! However, the biggest drawback of his simple frame is the rigidity of the finished scarecrow. My football supporter is not poseable. Most themes require a bendy scarecrow that can adopt a more realistic posture. To achieve this, I would prefer to use pipe foam insulation for the scarecrow’s arms and possibly for his legs as well. My England supporter is now lurking in the bushes in our front garden. I hope the neighbours don’t mind.

Party Mad

This afternoon I ventured into Stony Stratford, one of several historic towns that have been swallowed up by the new town of Milton Keynes. I went in search of high street Charity Shop offerings, to brighten up my latest, extremely dull scarecrow. I was hoping to find a bright Hawaiian shirt, a Mad Hatter’s top hat or a jazzy waistcoat to give my scarecrow a more definite personality. Alas, the men’s rails in Stony’s Charity Shops looked exactly like the inside of husband David’s wardrobe! But then I struck gold.

Party Mad, www.partymad.co.uk, is a brilliant shop that does exactly what its name suggests. Its interior is crammed with a wealth of fancy dress costumes, wigs, masks and party accessories. Party Mad is an absolute treasure trove for scarecrow makers, as the costumes and props are unusual, and many are reasonably priced. Some are expensive but very tempting. It would be so easy to get carried away, but I managed to restrain myself. I left with an England supporter’s hat, a ‘Come on England’ banner and some England ‘car sock’. Guess what role my scarecrow is going to take on?

The Perils of Colour-blindness

Farmer George has been climbing the tree in our back hedge for three weeks. To date, he’s survived everything that a typical English Spring can throw at him, including rain, hail, storms and gales, as well as brilliant sunshine. I’m pleased to report that he’s still looking good. George’s clothes get sopping wet when it rains, but they dry quickly as soon as the sun pops out again, and the plastic bags are doing sterling service in weatherproofing his newspaper stuffing.

George has become quite a character in the village! He’s doing a good job in promoting the scarecrow trail. In case you were wondering, he is named after George III, who is arguably the most attractive of England’s Hanoverian monarchs. George III was a good family man who was devoted to his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and his fifteen (!) children. King George III took a keen interest in agriculture, especially in farming his Crown Estates at Richmond and Windsor, which gave him the nickname of 'Farmer George'.

George III is also known as ‘the King who lost America’. Despite this unflattering description, which suggests an incompetent monarch, George was a conscientious ruler who read state papers and took a keen interest in government policy. Belying his epithet ‘Farmer’, George III was cultured and well read. He started a Royal book collection that was later given to the British Museum, and eventually formed the nucleus of the British Library. He also founded and financed the Royal Academy of Arts and he was the first king to seriously study science. George III’s extensive collection of scientific instruments is now on public exhibition at the Science Museum.

However, George III is perhaps best known as ‘mad King George’. Historians used to ascribe his ‘madness’ to the genetic blood disorder, porphyria. Its symptoms include blue urine, which George is known to have passed during his ‘mad’ episodes. However, another of George’s symptoms was that when he was ill his mood became euphoric and his speech prolix. He is said to have constantly repeated himself, using an extensive vocabulary of creative and colourful language. This has recently led to the alternative diagnosis that, during his ‘mad’ episodes, George was experiencing the manic phase of the psychiatric illness known as manic-depression or bipolar disorder.

So what about the blue urine? Apparently, King George III was treated with a medicine based on gentian, a plant with antibacterial and antifungal properties and deep blue flowers that may stain urine blue. Gentian is one of the best agents for promoting scabs to form on spots and weeping sores. I can remember being treated with gentian violet as a home remedy when I caught Chickenpox as a child, and also that I was covered in unsightly, large purple blobs after it had been painted on. Ugh!

Now that Spring has finally sprung, Farmer George is gradually fading back into the hedge, as the fresh green leaves sprout and start to cover his bright red jumper. Which prompts me to narrate a story I was told by a good friend the other day. My friend asked a male companion if he’d seen the scarecrow in the hedge on the Bradwell Road. He said he hadn’t, upon which she immediately drove him round to the studio to point George out. Her companion remained mystified and completely unable to spot a scarecrow in the hedge, even though he was staring directly at poor George. It turns out that my friend’s friend is red-green colour blind!

The Highs and Lows of Scarecrow Building

Yesterday morning, four Entry Forms (yes, an amazing four – representing different year groups) from brilliant Loughton School landed on my front door mat. Woohoo! This really gave me a lift! I’m not going to give you any hints or clues as to what the school will be building, as this will spoil the surprise you are certain to experience when you visit Loughton’s Scarecrow Trail between 29^th June and 6^th July. Visitors to the trail are sure to be wowed by the stunning display of scarecrows that the school’s enthusiastic and talented staff and pupils are planning to construct. Good luck with the build, Loughton School!

Yesterday afternoon, I embarked on making a life sized scarecrow with a rigid, cross-shaped armature. He’s about seven feet tall, including the stake that will be driven into the ground, and he has a larger than life character to match his size and bulk. Rather like a mediaeval jousting quintain, his five foot wide arms keep swinging round to tap me sharply on the back of my head, every time I turn him around to stuff and dress him. He’s still a ‘work in progress’ as he’s not revealed his true personality to me yet. Meanwhile, he’s a looming presence in my studio! Building him is proving a sharp learning curve. I’ll be passing on everything I’ve found out about ‘scarecrow wrestling’ in a future blog. 

Sacrecrow-Making Workshop

I’ve been receiving requests to run some scarecrow making workshops for novice builders. I’m planning to offer the first of these on Saturday 18^th May in the afternoon, up at the Church Room at All Saints' Church, starting at 2.00 p.m. and finishing at about 5.00 p.m. The workshop will be limited to a maximum of six people (or families) or, to put it another way, six scarecrows, and it will deal with making a simple cross-shaped armature, adding a simple bag head, embellishing the face, and stuffing and dressing the body.

If you can’t think of a theme for your scarecrow, relax, because there isn’t one. Absolutely anything goes, provided it is not offensive or completely tasteless. If you are stuck for a theme, see if there is an object that would make a good starting point, like a theodolite for a surveyor scarecrow, a car for a mechanic scarecrow, or a hammock or deckchair for a lazy one. Maybe you have an especially dreadful hat that you can make a feature of, or a lawnmower, a fishing rod, a bicycle or a fancy dress costume. Perhaps your scarecrow can be built around something he can hold, like a gardening tool or a walking stick? Have a look round the house and garage to see what you can unearth that might be fun to incorporate. If you want to base your scarecrow on a small, lightweight found object, please bring it with you to the workshop. If it is to big or to heavy (like a bed!), a photograph will do instead.

Decide how big you would like your scarecrow to be. Full size? Child size? Maybe half a scarecrow is enough, poking out from under a car, or popping up over the top of a fence. Do you want your scarecrow to stand upright in a garden border, or on the lawn? Could you attach him or her to your house, a window-cleaner perhaps? Perhaps your scarecrow could be propped in a sitting pose, or lying down? Humour is always a good thing to incorporate. Or a theme from a familiar story, song or nursery rhyme, such as Humpty Dumpty scarecrow or Little Miss Muffett with her tuffet and spider. If you have an idea of what you would like to make, do come along with your story-line and any significant props that may be needed.

Everyone who attends a workshop will need to bring the following items along with them:

• ·      Some old newspapers for stuffing the scarecrow (plastic bags will be provided to waterproof him/her);
• ·      Essential clothing for a male scarecrow, including an old, long sleeved T-shirt (to hold the body stuffing together), an old shirt or jumper and a pair of trousers; or
• ·      Essential clothing for a lady scarecrow, including an old long sleeved T-shirt, as before, and an old, full-length dress.
• ·      Any optional extras by way of clothing that is suitable for both genders, including a jacket, waistcoat or top coat; an old pair of gloves for the hands (as an alternative, straw will be provided as an alternative to finish off the arms at the hands); an old pair of shoes or boots (again, you could choose to use straw instead); and a hat, the more flamboyant the better!

If you do not have suitable, unwanted clothing, why not pay a visit to your local charity shop and have a rummage around to see if you can pick up a bargain that will inspire you to action? That way, you will be giving to charity at the same time as dressing your scarecrow!

There will be a charge of £10.00 per scarecrow to cover the cost of any additional materials used. This will be donated to All Saints Church. I may offer more workshops later on in May, depending on demand.

There Will Be Prizes

I’ve been dithering for some time about whether or not to award prizes, as well as rosettes, to the winning entries in the Scarecrow Trail competitions. I’ve finally made my mind up! There will be prizes! However, I have settled on vouchers to spend at leading MK stores, rather than cash prizes.

The first prize in the Family competition will win £50, with two runners up each winning £20.

In the Children’s class, the winner will receive a voucher for £20, and the two runners up £10 each.

The winning Organization will receive a £50 to spend at a leading luxury chocolate retailer.

The winning School / Children’s Organisation will win a voucher for £80, and the two runners up £30 each.

Finally, the scarecrow that receives the most votes in the Visitors’ Choice will receive a gift voucher for £50.

There will also be plenty of rosettes to award to other scarecrows that catch the judges' eyes, so please don't be put off entering if you don't think you are wonderfully talented and creative. Your entry may turn out to be the most amusing scarecrow, or the most unusual one. 

Embroidery Exhibition

On Thursday mornings I go to the All Saints’ Embroidery Group that talented textile artist, Valerie Jeffries, runs up at the church room at All Saints' Church. To date, we have made a series of stitch samplers, a delightful contemporary Winter Wonderland landscape in white work and a book wrap embellished with Jacobean embroidery. Our next, and arguably most challenging project, is to work an embroidered Indian elephant embellished with traditional shisha (mirror) work. Valerie is planning an informal exhibition of our embroideries in the church room during the Scarecrow Trail. We need to get stitching, ladies! 

Deadline Approaching!

With only a week to go until entries to the scarecrow competitions close on May 1^st, sharp-eyed drivers may have noticed the signs that have appeared at all the exits from Loughton village to prompt residents of the village to send in an entry. The scarecrows themselves do not need to be put on display until 28^th June.

Scarecrow Sighted in Loughton

 On my way up to All Saints Church on Sunday, I spotted an amazing blue pony/donkey scarecrow standing in the middle of the front lawn, in a garden close to the church. The scarecrow was stuffed with straw, and was taking aim at a football. Alas, when I returned on Monday morning to take a photo of the donkey scarecrow footballer for the blog, he had vanished. All that remained to show that I had not been dreaming (or hallucinating) were a few wisps of straw on the grass!

Latest update! I've now heard from the makers. Apparently, this scarecrow was made from a costume in the children's dressing up box, mounted on three bamboo canes held together with duct tape, and stuffed with newspaper and a bit of straw. Brilliant! 

Simple Certificates

Part of the plan for Loughton’s Scarecrow Trail is to devise a quiz that can be completed en route. The aim is to encourage visitors to buy a trail guide, at a nominal cost of £1.00. All the proceeds from trail guide sales will be donated to All Saints’ Church. To complete the quiz, it will be necessary to visit all the entries, to spend a little time admiring each exhibit and to be observant at each location.

I am planning to award a Certificate of Completion to everyone who successfully answers all the questions in the quiz. I don’t envisage that many adults will demand a certificate for completing the trail/quiz, but it might appeal to families with children. So how to deliver, without spending money that would be better donated to the church?

Yesterday, I investigated the range of templates that is available on line. The problem with many of these would seem to be that they have a fixed format, which can be printed off but not adapted, so I decided to design my own. I’m pleased with the result, especially when the certificate’s simple design is enhanced by printing it out on posh paper.  

This approach will allow me to take my computer and printer up to All Saints’ Church whilst the trail is open, so that I can personalize every certificate by inserting the name of each visitor who completes the quiz/trail. Now all I need is for a generous sponsor to pledge a ream of posh paper and a cartridge of black ink! 

Support the All Saints’ Raffle.

2000 raffle tickets that will be sold before and during the Scarecrow Trail to raise much-needed funds for the upkeep of the Church, have arrived back from the printer and will soon be on sale at 50p each.

Raffle Prizes already pledged include a first prize of £100.00 in gift vouchers to spend in a leading MK store, a sophisticated summer hamper, an adult and an under 16 Go Kart Experience at Daytona, a month’s free subscription to Fusion Fitness and a stylish, contemporary quilt.

Additional prizes will be added nearer to the event. If you would like to donate a prize, please let me know. I have already had pledges for more prizes, but I will only announce these once I’ve had a final confirmation. The Scarecrow Trail is All Saints' major fund raising event this summer, so please buy some tickets and support our local church. 

Stocking the Craft Stall

Good friends know that when I sit down to relax in front of the TV at the end of the day, I like to have some knitting close by, to keep my hands busy. This week, I’ve already finished two knitted scarves to add to a small stash that is accumulating in a bedroom drawer, ready to be sold on the craft stall up at All Saints’ Church during the Scarecrow Trail.

I love to hunt down unusual yarns and I have favourite, small independent shops that I like to visit regularly to see what they have in store. One is The Knitting Hut at Woburn Sands; another is the Wool Shop at Olney. Unusual usually means expensive, but my view is that if I’m going to put in the hours to transform raw yarn into a stylish accessory, I may as well use the best quality materials that have eye appeal, handle well and make pleasing gifts for discerning individuals.

The yarns I’m knitting with at the moment include the range by a Japanese manufacturer of color-transitioning yarn called Noro, and my latest find, Malabrigo, a range of kettle dyed and hand painted yarns from Uruguay. Most are in summer weights and include cool cotton blends. My friends are probably heaving a sigh of relief to know that, so long as the craft stall goes well, they won’t be receiving yet another knitted scarf from me at Christmas!

Scare-fish

The idea for Loughton’s Scarecrow Festival came from a visit David and I paid to a lovely old house called Trelowarren, on the Helford River in Cornwall, back in 2010. Looking back over the photographs we took to remind us of our lovely holiday to celebrate my retirement from University College London, I came across this unusual ‘Frederick the Frog’ scarecrow. Hopefully, he may provide inspiration for some animal-themed scarecrows.

Fred’s ‘face’ is made from an upside-down jumper stuffed with paper enclosed in plastic bags. His head is embellished with spots of light grey fabric appliqué. Fred’s eyes are made from two shiny CDs, and his hands are a pair of old frogman’s flippers attached to his arms with green duct tape. His body is a pair of old green tights stuffed with a discarded ‘space hopper’. The tights are embellished with dark grey fabric appliqué spots and, to complete his costume, Fred sports a pair of green Wellington boot feet that finish him off in great style.

Fred was placed at the edge of a garden pond. Is he about to go for a swim, or was he put there to scare away the fish?

Attention, Deadline Approaching!

There are only two weeks left in which to enter a scarecrow on Loughton’s first Scarecrow Trail. 

Details of the trail and a downloadable copy of the Entry Form can be accessed at: http://www.loughtonmk.org.uk/ (Loughton Residents’ Association website), or at http://www.webjam.com/wvep/all_saints (the page for All Saints’ Church, Loughton) on Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership’s website, and you will also find one at the end of the very first posting on this blog. 

Don’t delay, enter today!

First Judge Appointed

I’m very pleased and proud to announce that the first member of our judging panel (I’m aiming for three, altogether) for Loughton’s forthcoming Scarecrow Trail will be Sara Young, a Trustee Director at the Arts Gateway Milton Keynes and a Director at Cerulean Sky Ltd.

The Arts Gateway MK is a registered charity that used to be called MK Arts Association. Its declared mission is to support the arts and creative development in Milton Keynes, by attracting funding and building support for MK artists and creative organisations. The Arts Gateway promotes the arts in MK through its website, by publishing a weekly newsletter and by holding social networking events.

Artsists of all kinds living and working in Milton Keynes can publicise their work by submitting news articles to the Gateway. It provides a wealth of useful information to local residents about what is happening on MK’s arts scene in respect of music, drama the visual arts, dance and literature. Its calendar of forthcoming events is updated weekly.

Unfortunately, grant applications for seed corn funding for the arts has had to be suspended for the time being, due to recent funding cuts. On the positive side, though, the Arts Gateway has recently opened a Community Arts Resource Centre – CARCMK- at Stacey Bushes. This initiative aims to make it easier for creative people to run activities, by creating a one-stop shop that hires out everything needed to run an arts event, from costumes and props to sound equipment and marquees. Knowledgeable and experienced event organisers are available to be consulted about how to make a budding arts project into a success.

The Arts Gateway is now planning to develop an Arts Database where people interested in the arts can search for anything arts-related, be it a dance class, exhibition space, piano teacher, or arts and crafts supplier. Artists will be able to promote their skills there and showcase examples of their work to prospective clients.

The Gateway’s ‘links’ page takes readers directly to the websites of other arts organisations based in MK, the region and to useful national organisations such as the Arts Council England and the Voluntary Arts Network.  If you are interested in what’s going on in MK’s arts world, it is well worth visiting the Arts Gateway’s website at http://www.artsgatewaymk.org.uk/index