Dancing Scarecrow!

I have always enjoyed the idea of a scarecrow although I have never actually made one for my garden.  

Until now, I thought this addition to our yard was a good idea since it could {hopefully} also help protect our chickens from flying predators.  

We made this fun dancing lady last May; so its been in our yard for almost a year now.  So far we haven't lost any of our chickens in the yard {although we did loose 3 last summer when they wondered into the neighboring corn field and were found by something hiding and waiting for them}.

I thought about changing her clothes to fit the season but haven't actually gotten around to it so far.

Materials Needed:  
{These are the  materials we used; use what you have and get creative to make it your own.  We didn't go buy anything special; we used what we had.}
-4 ft long fence post {we used metal posts; but you could use wood or even a couple 2 x 4's}
-6 ft long fence post
-wire {we used aluminum} 
-3 large metal or plastic coffee cans
-string mop end, for hair
-hat
-scarf
-1 or 2 large shirts
-long skirt, preferably with stretchy waist
-gloves or mittens
-clothes pins or baby pins for securing clothing

Optional items the kids added:
-sunglasses
-binoculars

Process:
1. I had my husband weld the 2 metal fence posts together in the angle that I wanted the arms to be.

2. Have the strongest person in the family pound the post into the ground where you want the scarecrow to be.  {You could probably also make an "X" shaped stand on the bottom, to make the scarecrow mobile and just stake it to the ground where you want it.}
3. Poke a couple holes in the coffee cans and wire them to the support posts for the head and the hips of the scarecrow.

 4. Clothe and accessorize your lady!

I found that a very stretch t-shirt works well {you need to be able to stretch it over the "arms"}.  I also used a large button/snap collared shirt, which I knotted over the hips of the scarecrow.

5. Use the wire, clothes pins or baby pins to secure the gloves to the sleeves of the shirt; and to make the dancer holding the bottom edge of her skirt.

Above you can see that the glove was pulled off from the support; I ended up wrapping a small loop of wire around where the wrists are to secure them better.

And since it is so incredibly windy here in Iowa, I also ended up wiring the had to the "head"; after about a week of finding it blown somewhere in the yard.

Enjoy make it your own!  

I think I would be really cool to have more than one dancer in the yard.  Have fun!

Note:  The clothes do fade over time.  I will probably go to a yard sale or a thrift shop this summer to replace anything we don't have on hand.