Part 3
This is a very good toy to play with, and can be easily made. Get a piece of cardboard about six inches square and draw a line from corner to corner and cut it across. Then roll this triangle of cardboard into a long cone shape, about two and a half inches wide at the open end, and with a strip of thin gummed paper across the overlapping edge fix it down tight, so that it will not open out again. With the scissors trim the open end to an even round. Next take a large piece of tissue or any other thin soft paper, and roll it into a neat round ball, which must loosely fit the opening of the cone. Wind a thread of wool over it in one direction, and another so that it keeps its shape. Now, if you can get a piece of a black veil, or some very thin soft net or muslin, cover over the ball so that it looks quite neat and round and even, and stitch a thin string about eighteen inches long to it. You can now cover the cup also with the veiling if you wish to, and if so, leave about three inches over at the open end, which must be drawn together, and the draw thread then pushed down inside the cone and fastened off at the closed end. It can have a little cork put in to fill it up. Put the end of the string through a hole near the opening of the cone and your cup and ball is finished.
STORKS
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Large flat corks, ordinary bottle corks, large and small. Hairpins, burnt matches, small feathers, penknife.
First, for the body of the big stork get a good large cork, and with a penknife cut it into a longish egg shape; then another small cork must be cut almost round for the head. For the base the stork stands on one of the large corks out of pickle jars does best, but if you cannot get one take several pieces of thick cardboard and paste them together, or take the lid of a small cardboard box and make holes for the ends of the legs in it, and after pushing the ends of the hairpins through, run them into small pieces of cork, so that they will keep in place when standing. Now get a burnt match and sharpen it at either end, and push one end of it into the head, and the other into the body, and set the legs into place in the body also. Use hairpins that have no waves or angles in them, so that the bend of the pin makes the right bend for the leg. Make the beak of two matches, trimmed to a sharp point, and you can use a tiny black bead for the eyes, or draw them with ink. The feathers for the crest and wings and tail must be stuck into holes, after having a little mucilage put on the end of the quill.
A RABBIT
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Large cork, tiny piece of brown paper, a fragment of cotton wool, needle, strong thread, penknife, scissors.
This also is of cork, shaped out to rather a point at the head and cut flat underneath. Cut little nicks on each side to define the feet. The ears are of brown paper cut like Figure 30, with corners folded over and glued or put on with a stitch of strong linen thread, small dot of ink or a small bead makes the eye.
A CORK DOLL
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Flat cork, two bottle corks, burnt matches, a tiny piece of thin cotton material, the same of white paper and of colored ribbon, a large; pin, a little black or brown wool, needle, mucilage.
The body is a nice smooth cork and the pinafore is a piece of white paper tied on with the piece of ribbon The arms and legs are matches sharpened and well pressed in; it is best to have their points glued. The head is a small cork covered with a piece of white cotton material cut in a circle and tied tightly at the neck. Draw in the eyes, nose, and mouth with a soft black pencil, or paint them with rather dry water-color paint. Take dark wool and make large loose stitches for the hair, and then run through, from crown to neck, a large strong pin to fix the head to the body. The frill of material below the place the head is tied on makes a neat tucker when it is arranged nicely. For each foot lay a little piece of match on the base of cork, where the leg is stuck into it, and glue it down.
A CORK HORSE
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A flat cork, and one large and one small bottle cork, burnt matches, black wool, a little black tape, a tiny piece of colored paper, needle, scissors, penknife.
Use a nice smooth cork for the body, and cut out a little saddle in colored paper, and glue it into place, bind it round with a piece of tape or ribbon for the girth, and you can make little stirrups out of wire or silver paper and hang them on from this. The head is a small cork out of a medicine bottle, with brown paper ears, cut just like the rabbit's but much smaller and with only one fold. The mane is of loops of black wool sewed on to tape, and bound firmly down to the match that makes the neck. The tail is also of black wool, and the stand or base can be either a cork or box lid; if it is the latter the legs must be glued into holes carefully cut to fit them.
AN ENGINE AND TENDER
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
One large bottle cork and several small ones, one matchbox, large strong pins, preferably "laundry" pins.
Use a large cork for the engine and a portion of a small cork for the funnel. The dome can be made of the remaining piece of the latter and must be rounded at one end. Pin both onto the boiler portion. The wheels are slices of cork set into place with pins. The tender is a matchbox with the sides cut down at one place to make the entrance, and another matchbox makes the windscreen. To make the wheels of the tender hold steady, cut long slices of cork the width of the matchbox, and run the pins into these after piercing the sides of the box, as seen in the top view of the engine.
A CHEST OF DRAWERS
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A number of empty matchboxes, a number of shoe buttons, colored or brown paper, mucilage.
This is a very neat chest of drawers, or writing-desk, made of matchboxes; it also makes very good furniture for a toy grocer's shop. Have all your matchboxes of one size and color, and fix them all together in their outer cases with mucilage. Next get a piece of pretty colored paper (pieces of flowered wall-paper look very nice, or blue paper of a sugar bag), and glue this round the ends and top of your chest of drawers. Now in the end of each box cut a small hole and push through it the shank of a shoe button, and peg this through with a tiny slip of wood or a roll of paper, so that it holds quite firm. Glue on to the bottom of your chest of drawers some buttons without shanks, or wooden button moulds, to form the feet.
A CRADLE
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
An empty matchbox, a cork, needle and thread, scissors, mucilage, penknife.
Use an empty matchbox, and on the bottom glue two halves of a slice of cork for rockers. For the hood take the outer case of the matchbox and unfasten it where it is joined, and cut off a lengthwise strip about three-quarters of an inch wide, using one of the corners of this for the peak of the hood. Take a needle with strong thread, and with two large firm stitches fasten this strip to each side of the box, taking care to make the hood a nice even shape. Now you can take a little muslin and lace and sew it on for little curtains and frills, to trim the cradle with, and roll some scraps of material up to make a neat mattress and pillow.
A DOLL'S TABLE
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A small box lid of cardboard, large reel, mucilage.
This table is made of a round box lid fixed with mucilage on to a spool. A square lid will do equally well.
A DOLL'S BED
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Small cardboard box and lid, needle and thread, lace or ribbon, small piece of wadding and muslin, or a piece of thin material, scissors.
First cover the bottom of the cardboard box with a layer of soft material or wadding, with thin cotton over it, and take large tacking stitches to fasten this down. Next fix on your canopy by setting the lid upright on to the end of the box, and glue or fix it into place with stationers' paper clips or large stitches. Trim the canopy round the top with a little frill of lace or muslin, and put the same, as a valance, round the bed portion. You can also add curtains at each side of the canopy, and, if you want a footboard, that also can be fixed across the bottom with big stitches or paper clips before the valance frill is sewed on. You can make quite large beds in this way, and if you have not a very pretty box you can trim it up with pieces of wall-paper pasted inside the canopy.
A DOLL'S CHAIR
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Slice of cork or a chestnut, large strong pins, colored wool.
The seat is a slice of cork or a chestnut, and the legs and back are made of pins, the large ones called "laundry" pins are the best. Wind pretty wool in and out between the pins to make the back look like a nice cushion. You can cover the cork seat with a piece of colored material if you wish.
ANOTHER DOLL'S CHAIR
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Small piece of thin cardboard or post card, small piece of pretty material, a spool, needle and thread, scissors.
This chair is harder to make than the last one. First cut a piece of cardboard or two pieces of old post cards to the shape marked A. It must be large enough to allow it to reach halfway round the top of a reel at its widest part, where the corners are. Now tack on to this a piece of velveteen or any other pretty material, so that the edges turn over to the wrong side of the cardboard. On the second piece of card take the material only down just a little below the two corners of the cardboard, and you need not turn it in on the straight edge between these corners. Tack both cards together with the material outside, and overseam or topsew them as shown in Figure 40 A. Next take your reel and bind tightly over each end of it a round piece of material, and then take a narrow strip of material or ribbon, and turn in the edges and wrap it round the reel as in 40 B, and tack the strip into place very tight. Now fix on the back as in 40 C with neat little stitches, and your chair is finished.
NECKLACES
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Needles, strong thread of linen or silk, seeds, beads, acorn cups, daisies.
These are some of the necklaces you can make of things you find in the country, or of seeds you come across.
Figure 41 is made of rose hips threaded together. If you want to make the cross or pendant, you can use a few small beads so that your radiating hips will hold more steadily. These will hold better into place if you put a strong surrounding line of stitches into them.
Figure 42 is of melon seeds or sunflower seeds, either will do.
Figure 43, of the same, but threaded twice through each seed, with a tiny bead between and a pendant loop of seeds and beads below.
Figure 44 is a snake made of acorn cups. Begin at the head (with is a large acorn with the shell cut to make eyes and mouth), and thread through the mouth, then thread on your biggest acorn cups, gradually choosing smaller and smaller ones till you get to the tail, where it should be finished with a tassel.
Figure 45 is the prettiest daisy chain. The stems are nipped off and the daisies threaded through the center. This makes a very beautiful wreath.
A HATBAND
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Small autumn leaves, broad tape or carpet binding, needle and thread.
Pick up the prettiest leaves which are nearly the same in size. Use a thread of brown mending yarn and carefully sew the leaves down on to a piece of broad tape or carpet binding. After you have finished the sewing press the hatband for some days under a pile of newspapers or heavy books, so that the leaves will dry flat.
A FAN
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Large leaves of Spanish chestnut, smaller leaves, thin cardboard, needle and brown silk or wool.
This fan is made of the large leaves of the Spanish chestnut; you can pick these up already beautifully dry and flat in the woods in autumn. Get about twenty of the same size, and cut a semicircle of firm cardboard and sew them on to it, so that the fan holds very firm, then over your stitches sew on smaller leaves of varying colors. You will find this makes a most beautiful ornament for your mantelpiece.
* * * * *
Figures 48 to 55 are _windmills_, some very easy and some more difficult, but all very interesting toys.
A PIN-WHEEL OR WHIRLIGIG
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A square of stiff writing paper, an old penholder, skewer, or a straight twig, a strong pin or a slim upholstery nail with a large head, scissors.
This pinwheel is made of a piece of firm writing paper. Cut the paper into a perfect square, and fold it diagonally from corner to corner and smooth out again, then cut along your folds to within an inch of the center. Now cut a tiny round of strong paper or a piece of a postcard about half an inch across and take a strong short pin and put it through the middle. Then push your pin through each right-hand corner of your square of writing paper, and lastly through the center of the square, and take a piece of stick or a penholder and push the point of the pin in till it is halfway in. You will find your windmill will turn as you run, if you hold it out straight in front of you. If you can get two good sticks you can use a long one as the upper part of a weather vane. Rut a nail through, rather nearer your pinwheel than the middle of the stick. At the other end make a long slit and put in a paper tail, so that the pinwheel will keep its head to the wind. Fix your nail into the end of the other stick, and set the stick upright in the ground as in Figure 50.
A TIN WHEEL OR BUZZER
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A circle of thin tin or a tin lid, a stick of soft wood, an upholsterer's nail, tin cutters.
This windmill is made of tin; this is rather difficult to cut unless your hands are strong, but sometimes you can get very thin tin or brass from kindergarten stores, and it is quite easy to make it of this. Draw a circle about four inches across on the tin, round a jam pot or some such thing to give you a good even circle, and cut this out with the scissors. Now take a ruler and scratch lines across your circle, at right angles first, so that you have your circle divided into quarters; now divide these quarters again into three or four divisions, and draw a smaller circle on your tin about three quarters of an inch, or less, from the outer edge. Now make a clean cut with the scissors from the edge to the inner circle along each line. The tin will always bend in one way as you do this, and you must leave the little divisions bent very evenly. Make a hole in the center of your wheel and fix it strongly with a nail into a stick. You will find you can hardly hold your windmill if you stand with it facing a steady wind. This windmill is a grand one to go.
A WOODEN MILL
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Two narrow strips of thin, soft wood, a stick for a holder, a screw, penknife, gimlet.
This is a wooden mill and it requires some care and skill to make it. It can easily be made with a penknife out of two pieces of thin, soft wood. First you must cut a neat socket across each piece of wood in the center, halfway through its thickness. The socket must be exactly the same width as your piece of wood, so that when you set each piece socket to socket they fit exactly. Now with an awl or pricker make a neat hole in the center of the two pieces when they are fitted together. Next you must shave away with your penknife the right-hand edge of each of the "arms" or "sails" of your windmill, graduating the shaving evenly from the left-hand edge, where it is thick, to a fine blade at the right-hand edge. Now fit together the two halves and put a nail through the hole and fasten it into the end of a stick. If the nail is apt to split the stick you can put a reel on to the end of it and fix the nail into the stick through the hole of the reel. It is a very good thing to put your nail through a large glass bead between the windmill and the stick.
A FEATHER WHEEL
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Four large quills, a piece of firm cardboard, a cork, a box for a gas mantle, a straight stick or old penholder, paper, mucilage, needle and strong thread.
This windmill is made of goose quills, or any other large strong quill; these must be chosen with the wider webbing of the feather all on the same side, and must be the same size. Cut a circle of firm cardboard and lay each quill with its point in the middle of this circle and stitch them firmly down at right angles to each other. Glue the wrong side of the cardboard on to a reel or a piece of cork, and fix this on the end of a small stick or penholder. Now take a small cylindrical cardboard box--those used for gas mantles are excellent--and bore holes through opposite sides of this, about halfway down. Push the stick through and fix into a slit at the end of it a "tail" of paper or cardboard. Take another piece of cardboard and shape it into a cone, exactly as in Figure 27 for the cup and ball. Cut a hole in the bottom of your box and fit it on to the end of the cone, which must be cut down to allow the stick to pass clear of the end of the cone.
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A narrow strip of soft wood, a cork, four luggage labels or post cards, a penholder, strong glue, a penknife, an upholsterer's nail, a gimlet.
This is made of two pieces of wood socketed as in Figure 53, and with slits made in each end into which a luggage label is inserted. Use glue to hold these firm, and also to stick on to the center of the cross of wood a slice of cork, pierce a hole through the cork and the cross of wood, and through it run a nail with a fairly large head. Now make a hole at each outer left-hand corner of each label and, loop through this with a needle and a firm thread. Tie the thread round the nail and run the nail into your stick.
AN AIR PROPELLER
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A piece of soft wood three-quarters of an inch thick and about six or seven inches long, a gimlet, a soft wood skewer, penknife, sandpaper.
This is a little air propeller which is rapidly whirled between both hands and released: if properly done it should return to the hands. The propeller is cut out of wood on the same principle as in Figure 52, but it may be of thicker wood with a greater amount of angle to the blades. The stick must be carefully fitted to the hole in the blades and must be thicker at the other end. Both blades and stick should be well smoothed with sandpaper.
A REVERSING PROPELLER
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Two pieces of wood as above, also two larger round sticks, such as are used to roll paper upon, a cork, two long nails, a piece of thin tin or cardboard for the tail.
This windmill is made of two propellers cut like Figure 56, but with the bevelling of the blades of one reversed so that it will turn in the opposite direction. A piece of wood or cork or a bead may be put between each propeller. The tail may be made of cardboard or tin.
A WATERWHEEL AND SHUTE
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
Smooth straight twigs about half an inch thick, a thin wooden sweet-box or other light wooden box, two small pieces of white soft wood, about one-third of an inch thick and five inches long and one inch broad, a piece of thick wire, small tacks, pliers, a gimlet, small staples, strong thin string.
This is a waterwheel with a watershute, and it turns a crank and has a little man attached. The waterwheel has flat blades with no bevelling, and a thick wire is inserted through its axis. This wire should be bent with pliers to form the cranks. Set up crosswise into the ground some strong twigs tied firmly into position with strong twine. If there is a handy little stream it should be diverted to run a channel into your watershute, which should be of two flat pieces of wood nailed together at right angles; this can also be supported on trestles. Set the shute so that the end is above the blade of the waterwheel and allows the water to fall on it with sufficient force to turn it round. The man may be cut with a fret-saw in three ply wood, and small staples should be run loosely through the holes at the ankles into a thicker piece of wood which acts as a base, so that with the movement of the crank he will appear to be turning the wheel. Fasten arms and legs to the body with a thick wire which works loosely in the holes, or with a thin nail which may be bent over at the point.
A POP-GUN
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A large goose quill, a small twig, a slice of raw potato, a penknife.
This is a most simple little toy and very easy to make. Get a large quill feather with as wide and strong a quill as you can, and cut it off where the quill is thickest. Then get a little stick or branch, preferably a little bent at the thicker end, and peel and smooth it, so that it will fit nicely into the quill with the thicker bent end projecting. This makes the ramrod, but it must be fitted into the quill so that it reaches only within half an inch of the pointed or smaller end. Now take a slice of raw potato about half an inch thick or a little more, and into it push the wider end of the quill so that it takes out a neat round piece of the potato. With the ramrod gently push this first "bullet" to the smaller end of the quill and take out another slice from the potato with the wide end. Now quickly and smartly push in your ramrod and you will find your first bullet shoots off splendidly, leaving your second one at the point of the quill ready for the next shot. Large popguns can be made with a piece of tin tubing, or even cardboard rollers and corks used as bullets. The ramrod must be padded with cotton wrapping in order to fit the tube closely.
A WHISTLE
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A short piece of smooth sycamore, willow, cherry, or holly branch, a pea, a penknife.
This can be made of sycamore cherry, holly, or willow branches, where there is a fairly thick coating of sappy bark outside the firm woody fiber. Choose a piece about four inches long without knots and as smooth as possible. Now by tapping patiently and wetting the wood occasionally loosen the bark from the hard wood so that it will at last slip off like a tube; this requires care and gentle handling. Now take the hard wooden core and cut into it, from the middle to within half an inch of one end, a deep curving cavity, and from this to the other end cut off a shallow horizontal slice. This core can now be slipped into the tube of bark again and a neat semicircular hole cut in the latter above the cavity in the core, and you will find this an excellent whistle. Scottish children put a small pea into the cavity before replacing it into the tube of bark to make it "birl" when blown--this is a great improvement.
A LONG WHISTLE
MATERIALS REQUIRED:--
A piece of hollow bamboo about eight inches long, a cork, a penknife.