Innertube Crow

I have been experimenting with innertubes for years and sold lots of result on art fairs. But nothing sold as well as the crows. I made so many that i'm "tyred" of them. So, for everybody that likes them: They are no longer for sale, Make your own. Here's how:

You will need:
One bicycle inner tube
Dark Grey machine yarn (polyester stays better when the crow is placed in the garden)
Scissors ( not the best textile scissers,as they will go blunt)
sewing machine ( preferably with double transport)
strong metal gardening wire about 3 mm thick.
Something to cut the metal wire 

Start cutting out 8 "drop"shaped parts for the body and 8 circle shapes for the head. The body parts should be about 16 cm long. The head parts are 6 cm. All parts are cut on the edge so the foto shows them folded in half

Sew 4 bodyparts to eachother. with small diagonal seams on top and bottom. Look closely at the picture and you will know what i mean. There are never more than 2 layers of rubber under the needle. Do the same for the other 4 bodyparts. Don't put the two halve of the body together yet. go on to the next step.

About sewing innertyre: You are lucky when your sewing machine is able to grab the material from underside and on top to every next stich.( double transport). The yarn has a tendency to make loops. Set the yarn tension to a higher number! Don't use leather needles, but normal all purpose. Number 90 or 100 works best.

The head is assembled in a similar way. But now connect 5 parts for one "half", and 3 parts for the other "half". They are connected with very small diagonal seams , just like the body. Sorry for the not so clear picture.

Cut out a beak about 9 cm long. Place it between the top part of the head (5 pieces) and the bottem part of the head (3 pieces). Make the same diaginal little seams to connect them. Now make little vertical seams in the middle of the head parts, connecting ech piece to itself. The third picture shows it very neatly.

There are two extra seams connecting layer 2 and 3 , and 6 and 7 of the underside of the body to hold the legs. The photo shows the right place.
Then cut of two lengts of innertube about 16 cm. Single layers! Sew them together in a "V"shape. This will be the tail. Put the tail between the body halves and sew with the known diagonal seams. ( third picture)
Give the body a firm round shape by seams along the edge in the middle of the body, connecting each part to itself.

Connect the head to the body. This can be a little fiddly. Put one double piece of the head between two layers of the body. Make a small machine stitch. Sometimes the diagonal seam of the body is in the way and has to be cut to allow the head to be placed.
Connect on either side of the middle another layer of the head to the body. This will determine the position of the head. When you don't succeed putting this under the machine needle, you could do it by handstich. 

Insert a piece of garden wire in the "tunnels"made in step 5. A piece of 45 cm will do. Insert the wire on one sideof the body , trough  the middle , and out the other side. Now make sure the bird is in the middle of the wire. Bend the wire fully double. Th birds body will flex. Shove the bend into the breast of the bird. Now bend the legs down where the tunnels begin. So the wire forms a leg, bends over to the front of the bird inside the body, bends back and with a third bend forms the other leg.

Cut the legs to a correct length. Place them in a piece of wood, a stone, or somthing else. You can als try to make feet like in the very first picture.

Enjoy!
More innertube animals and other stuff can be found on my website www.ruudvankoningsbrugge.nl