Mister Softee

I’ve made some modifications to the soft-bodied armature that I used for Farmer George (see my blog for Monday 8^th April 2013). A visit to B&Q established that Climaflex foam pipe insulation comes in 2 metre lengths, and a variety of at least three diameters: 48 mm, 65 mm and 78 mm.

Each ‘crow’ takes one thick tube cut in two for the legs, half a thinner tube for the torso, one thin tube for the arms and half a thin tube for the hips. The finished ‘crow’ is light and flexible. I’ll be offering him as an alternative to the freestanding ‘crow’ at tomorrow’s workshop.

This scarecrow’s torso can be strengthened by pushing a length of wooden dowel up the centre of the pipe. The dowel can either be short, just long enough to stiffen the neck whilst leaving the ‘crow’ able to bend at the waist, or long so that the whole of the torso is strengthened. The dowel can even be long enough to act as a centre post that can be pushed into the ground to support the scarecrow.

Remember to drive a hole into the ground using a separate piece of dowel or rod, as the ‘crow’ itself will not be able to withstand being driven into hard ground.

The hips and legs are made by cutting the thickest diameter pipe in two to make two legs, each a metre long, before winding the half of the thin tube round the top of one leg, interlacing it at the bottom of the torso, and then again at the top of the other leg, securing each twist with strong twine or string as you go. The hips hold the legs in place by natural friction.

Two pieces of wooden dowel can be inserted, one down the centre of each leg, so that the legs are stiff and can support the scarecrow when the free ends are put in the ground. As before, the holes needs to be made first, so do not try to push the dowels that stiffen the legs straight into the ground without first preparing two holes to receive them.

The arms are made by overlapping two of the thin pipes to form the shoulders and taping the ends. The torso pipe can then be inserted into the space formed between the shoulders, where the arm pipes overlap. The arms can be posed. 

At this stage, if gently encouraged the shoulders will slide up and down the torso. Slide them down, and place a face bag lined with a plastic bag over the top of the torso, stuff it with scrunched up newspaper, and seal the neck end with builder’s tape. Trim away any surplus and slide the shoulders back up to the neck. Secure the shoulders more firmly at the neck with builder’s tape.

The torso can be ‘dressed’ with a T-shirt, and stuffed. The arms and legs can also be padded out in the usual way, but depending on how you want your ‘crow’ to look, this may not be necessary. The arms, legs and torso can all be trimmed shorter with scissors if a 'crow' of smaller proportions is required.