kevin the bird: how to

i never thought in a million years i'd ever be a bird for halloween, but when a group of friends decided to do an "up" trunk for trunk or treat, the bird was a must. i decided the more ridiculous the better, so here we go... 

you'll need:

liquid starch

newspaper

black garbage bag

balloons

two fabric strips

pool noodle

multicolor tissue paper (i bought the 15 pack of colors plus a normal pack of just orange)

duct tape

stapler

scotch tape

elmer's glue

scissors

five black pipe cleaners

green construction paper

yellow construction paper

white paper

hot glue

black marker

black felt

black ribbon

blue acrylic paint
paint brush (i use a foam brush, and i put my paint on a paper plate)

ok so for starters, i'm spoiled and i have a dress form of myself (made by my savvy and talented sister for when she was also making my wedding dress!) anyway, so since i have a dress form i put it in the center of a garbage bag that i had ripped a hole in the bottom of. i stuffed it with balloons and crumpled newspaper, i think the newspaper was better for not making it too lumpy.   

if you don't have a dress form then just keep the bag intact and fill it up more with balloons and newspaper then tie the top shut.

then you paper mache it with the liquid starch. and let dry. also paper mache a balloon for the head.

next, i cut strips out of a t-shirt to make suspenders and stapled them in. i wore the same color shirt (inside out) so they would blend in. i learned though that you should really put the suspenders on after the neck and head are on cause they stretch out with the extra weight and i had to reattach them anyway.

i cut the noodle so i used a little less than half of it. i cut a hole in the body and a hole in the head. 

i cut the hole as a vertical oval so the noodle would stick up more vertically then taped it down with duct tape. i didn't ever attach the head so it would be easier to transport the bird.

to cover the whole thing i cut strips out of tissue paper with a jagged edge for feathers. start at the bottom and head up so your feathers overlap correctly. i used half a bottle of elmer's glue on this project even though i only put a thin line on each strip i glued down. 

to make the wings and tail i just crumpled a shape out of newspaper and stapled it on.

i painted the neck and head the same color blue. then attached my head feathers by poking them in and scotch taping them on the inside. i twirled them together so they would be more stable and in the same direction.

you can barely tell, but to get the eyes to form to the head i cut slits in them. i also left the little bit of white so the bird would look a little more cartoonish and birdlike. 

for the beak just make a cone out of paper and attach it with hot glue.

here's the finished product! plus some felt feet i tied on with ribbon.