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Original poster

Crafty People - I need your help.

115 replies

Jaybee · 03/02/2004 15:38

Ds came home last night stating that, as part of his homework for this week, he has to make a pheasant - yes a bl(dy pheasant. No suggestions on how to make it - just make it.
Helpppppppp!!!!!!
I have been looking on the net today for pictures and nipped out at lunch time for some relevant coloured card, tissue paper, pipe cleaners etc. but I need some ideas on how he can actually do this. Best idea so far from the office ladies is make the body with papier mache over a balloon - sounds ok but then what.....
Any suggestions and simple ideas greatly appreciated - ds is 10 by the way but has very limited interest in anything crafty.

OP posts:
Tortington · 03/02/2004 15:49

i dont know where schools get the idea we all have time to do this stuff, at the end of the day its usually the parents that do it.

maybe it would be worth while phoning the school to ask for clarification - it seems such an odd thing to be asked to make especially by a 10 yr old.

as for making it maybe you could shove the fluffy end of a feather duster into the hole at the end of the papier mache body - paint it brown. with a toilet roll tube for the neck and a hard boiled egg hollowed out for the head

hth

Janstar · 03/02/2004 15:50

Sometimes I just can't believe the things the kids get told to make for school. The teachers seem to think we all have unlimited craft materials etc in our homes. I have a whole room devoted to crafts, but sometimes even that is not well-equipped enough!
The paper mache balloon thing sounds like a good idea. For paper mache, I mix up a little PVA glue in water, tear up strips of newspaper and soak them in it for a minute or two before I beging layering them on. I guess the neck end of the balloon would be the neck of the bird?

Build with quite a few layers, 4 or 5, then leave it to dry in a warm place overnight. You can then use strips of cardboard from a cereal box stuck on with masking tape to build up the shape, for the tail and head, covering again with some more layers of newspaper and leaving to dry.

Make feet out of the pipe cleaners - making a long piece of leg to bend up and tape to the main body with masking tape. Paint the whole thing a relevant colour, a pale brown I suppose. When dry, you can tear up bits of the tissue paper and stick them on like feathers all over. Paint on a face.

What a lot of fuss just for a homework.

Blu · 03/02/2004 15:52

Er, dress an action man up in some bits of old sack and claim he thought he had to make a PEASANT?

Original poster
Jaybee · 03/02/2004 16:02

Custardo - it is actually written in his homework diary by his teacher - no mistaking that it says pheasant unfortunately. I passed a dead one on the road this morning, I was tempted to stop and pull out it's tail feathers but thought that other commuters may think me a bit strange.
Like the toilet roll idea for the neck.
Janstar - could you explain your bit about the strips of cardboard to build up the shape of the tail and head - sorry to be a thicko!!
Why do schools always think that the kids and us parents have time for these things - he is playing football for the school tomorrow after school and Thursday we have to send him in dressed as a Victorian - thankfully I have already made that outfit otherwise I would be really cheesed off. And people wonder why my house is a mess!!

OP posts:
Blu · 03/02/2004 16:05

Jaybee, you're frightening me. DS is only 2.5, and you've made me consider Home Ed for the first time. Victorians, Pheasants...I'll never cope.

Janstar · 03/02/2004 16:06

Cut strips of cardboard from a cereal packet or similar and use them to shape the neck and the tail. I wish we could post drawings on here!!

Tape one end to the body and let the other end extend out from like a tail. Add another and another going round one end of the balloon. Then tape the stray ends together and you have shaped a tail. Then cover the whole thing in another layer or two of paper mache.

StressyHead · 03/02/2004 16:08

message withdrawn

twiglett · 03/02/2004 16:09

message withdrawn

spacemonkey · 03/02/2004 16:12

argh i dread these sorts of assignments - am rubbish at this kind of stuff

have just run this past ds (10) who said he would use a balloon + papier mache for the body, then loo roll tube for the neck and a tennis ball (or similar) for the head, cover all in papier mache then use long strips of coloured paper for the feathers/tail. (So basically the same as janstar said!)

WHAT A PALAVER!

Original poster
Jaybee · 03/02/2004 16:14

Thanks Janstar - I think I understand - would I do that after the initial papier mache over the balloon is dry or do you think it would work directly stuck to the balloon - I was thinking of him doing strips of cardboard and tissue paper with a feathery edging stuck to the body a la Why Bird on PlayDays - what do you reckon?

OP posts:
Coddy · 03/02/2004 16:16

I agree with Custardo - WHY?

(as ex teacher too)

Janstar · 03/02/2004 16:16

Yes, it is. You need to be aware that it will have to be made over several days, leaving gaps for glue to dry.

My kids come home all the time with bizarre requests for things they need for the next day. It could be anything...a 20cm orange zip, a German dictionary, a kiwi fruit....

Tbh I do think they have more time and don't tell me till the last minute, but still....

Blu · 03/02/2004 16:17

Pheasants have kind of thin tapering heads, don't they? maybe you could just finish the neck in a cone shape of card and paint (easier than trying tostick a heavy tennis ball to toilet roll).

What are they going to do with this pheasant?

Coddy · 03/02/2004 16:18

what about making a pheasant road kill type thing?

Janstar · 03/02/2004 16:18

I think you will have to do it in stages and let the main body dry before you do the cardboard. The masking tape won't stick to anything unless it's dry.

spacemonkey · 03/02/2004 16:18

does it definitely have to be a 3 dimensional pheasant representation?

Coddy · 03/02/2004 16:19

LOL space

Coddy · 03/02/2004 16:20

what about this dont look if nervous

oxocube · 03/02/2004 16:21

Jaybee, I actually did misread your post as 'peasant'!!!! Peasant or pheasant - both are equally ridiculous!

spacemonkey · 03/02/2004 16:21

CHORTLE coddy that definitely isn't 3D

Blu · 03/02/2004 16:23

Could it be a cooked pheasant?

Thomcat · 03/02/2004 16:24

OMG - is this what my future holds?!!
Jesus - can't you buy these things!

I know - that's what you girls should start putting on the swap shop - so that when lottie is at the age where she is assigned these ridiculous homework pieces I can just come on here and pick up all your old homework projects!!

Do a good job please ladies!

spacemonkey · 03/02/2004 16:24

could it be made out of that self hardening modelling clay? surely must be easier than all that papier mache mallarkey

Original poster
Jaybee · 03/02/2004 16:25

Spacemonkey - thank your ds for me - looks as though we are all thinking along the same lines.
No one tells you about these things in the parenting books do they.

OP posts:
oxocube · 03/02/2004 16:30

Lol, Blu. That would make it a lot easier - just pop down to Tesco's Maybe Jaybee's ds would get extra marks for a nice garnish and maybe a potato gratin to go with