CHAPTER XVI

LITTLE GYMNAST; DANCING CLOWN; ROCKING ANIMALS

=Little Gymnast.= First the little gymnast must be drawn and cut out. He can be made of cardboard of medium thickness and paper-fasteners (Size 00) or better of three-ply wood and bifurcated nickel rivets (Size No. 14-8/16).

First draw the body, A, Fig. 402, 2-1/2 inches long. (The measurements given are important, for unless the limbs are in proportion the figure will not work properly.) Make two holes with the drill, if wood is being used, as in Fig. 402.

The arms, B, are 2-1/4 inches long, the hands must be large enough to contain holes to carry a wooden knitting needle (1/8 inch in diameter). The upper part of leg, C, is 1-1/2 inches in length; the lower part, D, 1-1/2 inches. Make holes in these parts as in the figure. Take care that the holes are large enough to hold the rivet or paper-fasteners loosely, so that the limbs swing about easily.

Now fasten all these parts together. (For directions how to hammer the rivets see the previous chapter.)

Paint the figure in water colours if it is made of cardboard, if it is made of wood it may be left unpainted, or painted in oil colours.

Push a wooden knitting needle (about 1/8 inch in diameter) through the holes in the hands, see that it fits tightly, add a little glue if there is any danger of the needle slipping round inside the holes.

Two pieces of stripwood, E, are next sawn about 11" × 1/4" × 1/2". These posts must have holes drilled in them near the top for the knitting needle to pass through, and revolve freely. The posts are nailed and glued to a base, the size of which will depend upon the length of the bar which the gymnast turns upon.

Two or three gymnasts look well swinging together, or a gymnast, a monkey and a clown. In this case 12" × 6" × 1/4" makes a good stand. The posts are supported by triangular supports. On turning the knitting needle the little figure will revolve in a life-like manner, and perform many of the professional exercises of the horizontal bar. The actions are made more realistic if the man's head is weighted with a piece of lead, so as to make his head more nearly the same weight as his body.

=The Dancing Clown.= Draw on cardboard or three-ply wood and cut out the head and body of the clown as in Fig. 403. Colour it, and cut out another piece exactly the same to represent the back of the clown. Draw and cut out two arms as in Fig. 404, two legs as in Fig. 405. Cut out two small discs of lead, and glue them behind the balls in his hands; glue little pieces of lead behind his boots. His arms and legs are fastened together by thread, as in Fig. 406. The back part of the body hides the strings.

This clown can be hung inside a box, and the strings passed through a hole (directly underneath the clown) in another box upon which he can then be made to dance, as in Fig. 407. The figure works best if properly balanced; see that the arms and legs are equal in size and weight.

=Rocking Horses and Elephants.= The simplest way of making a rocking horse is shown in Fig. 408. Two rockers, A B C, are cut out of cardboard (medium thickness). Next two horses, D, are drawn on cartridge paper, the distance between the fore and hind feet corresponding to the distance A C in the rockers. The horses are coloured and cut out, and their heads and tails gummed together. The four legs are then fastened with paper-fasteners (or with gum) to the ends of the two rockers. A wooden rocking horse is made in the following way. The two rockers, A B and C D, are cut out of three-ply wood with a fret-saw. The arc of a circle of 4 inches to 4-1/2 inches radius is a good size; width of rocker, H K (Fig. 409), 3/4 inch.

Three pieces of stripwood 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch are sawn, length 3-1/4 inches, E, F and G. Pencil-marks must be made on the two rockers to show where these strips are to go, one in the middle, the other two at the ends. Before fastening them on, a slit is sawn in the middle of each end-piece, as at E and G.

Strips E, F and G are glued and nailed to one rocker, then this rocker can be laid on its side, and the second rocker glued to the upstanding strips. There is no need to nail the second rocker; indeed, if the ends of the strips are very evenly cut, there is no need for nailing at all. The horse (Fig. 410) can be cut out of cardboard and have one front leg and one back leg fitted into the slits. Cardboard of medium thickness will just fit a saw-cut and no gluing is needed. If the horse is cut out of fret-wood or three-ply wood (1/8 inch thick) the saw-cuts must be enlarged with a file and the feet glued in.

Instead of horses, donkeys, tigers, lions, etc., can be fixed on rockers as just described.

The rockers in Fig. 409 can also be built up of cardboard.

=A Rocking Elephant.= On a piece of cardboard draw a circle 1-1/4 inches in radius; on this draw an elephant as in Fig. 411. Colour the ball red and the elephant grey (both sides must be coloured) and cut out. Cut out a piece of cartridge paper (Fig. 412), length equal to half the circumference of the circle in Fig. 411, width, 1-1/2 inches. Fold in half along D E, cut out D B C E, as in diagram, the shaded portions being cut away. Gum B D C E to disc H as in Fig. 411, so that D F E G forms a rocker; make a similar rocker for the other side. Two pieces of lead (A in Fig. 411) are cut out and glued on each side of the disc at the bottom, as in the figure. The lead must have paper suitably coloured pasted over it. The elephant will swing up and down at the slightest touch. Instead of an elephant a clown can be drawn on the ball.

Fig. 413 shows an elephant rolling on his back. This toy can be made in the same way as the first elephant. A circle (1-1/4 inches radius) is drawn first, and the elephant drawn in the circle. These elephants can be cut with the fret-saw from satin walnut (1/4 inch thick). In this case the lead on each side must almost reach the diameter, as shown in Fig. 413. Another disc of wood (1-1/4 inch radius) must be fret-sawed out of the satin walnut, sawn in two, and the halves glued one on each side of the lead, to make a base wide enough for the toy to rock upon without upsetting. No lead will then show, and it will look like a wooden toy. If these toys are cut out of thin wood, 1/8 inch thick, they still require at least twice as much lead as the cardboard toy.

The elephant may also be drawn balancing a ball instead of a clown.

Children will delight in making these toys from cardboard, paper and lead for a toy circus.

Fig. 414 shows a swan drawn in a circle; the shaded part represents the paper rocker on one side. This model requires no lead. A duck can be made in the same way.

Fig. 415 shows a design for elephants on a see-saw. The elephants must be the same size as far as possible.