Little Green Peg Parrot

I have been making birds from waste carton for quite some time now. You can check my instructable on Cardboard Box Birds from dec 2014. Recently I am trying to create waste carton animals with some kind of movement. In this instructable a simple bird wich can flap its wings. With much thank to Rob Ives for his limitless inspiration.

groceries carton waste (green?)
one cloth peg
one paperclip

scissors
craft knife
hot glue
2 mm drill
small hole punch ( or needle )
pliers
pencil

Print out the pdf with patterns. Choose nice parts of the coloured carton and cut out the needed shapes.

Start with the most complex one, the body. Make slits for the wings and a small hole in the center. Note that the slits have an opening to the side. Glue front and back strip over each other. The hatched part of the pattern show where parts overlap.

Next on the agenda are the wings. Each wing consists of two parts, one underside and one upperside. This is for strengthening as well as achieving colour on both sides.Fold the rim on the bigger part, and glue the smaller part in place. You can cut individual feathers at this point. I did so in the end.

From the paperclip we create the pivot for the wings. Straighten it and bend the end round a pencil. Use pliers to center the ring. Punch two holes in the wings and thread them on the wire in the ring. The side that touch each other will become upper side. It is upto you wich side you choose. Mine are in fact upside down, but I think the two coloured side is more beautiful to go on top.

Drill a 2mm hole in the end of the peg. The hole goes through both parts. Glue on the body and make sure the hole in the body corresponds with the hole in the peg. Thread the paperclip part through and place the wings in the slits of the body

With tiny strips of carton cover the slits above the wings. Make sure the glue does not obstruct the wings.

Hold the wings as high as the can move. Open the peg and the point where the papercilp wire protrudes the peg, is the place where you want to bend the wire.Cut it 4mm from the bend and make the bend 180 degrees. Press the double end back in the peg as far as it can, and make sure it is locked in place. Test the wing movement.

Glue the top part of the body with the tab in front. Then close it by glueing the tail to the peg.

On the front of the head part pull outer strips to the middle and cover with middle strip. It is almost a square shape. The back of the head is formed by crossing the strips over each other. Add glue to the rim of the back half of the head and press it to the top of the body. The head sticks a few millimeters out at the front.

Details of the head. The half circle is a craw part. Put glue on al feather ends and slip the tab under the head.

The smallest part is the beak. Glue one square over the other. then put glue along the rim and press to the head.

For decoration I glued another piece over the tail, only for a touch of colour.

Now let your bird fly like a green bird over a green earth.

And remind yourself that, like the fairy tale of the Chinese nightingale,

real birds are of greater value than any artificial one.