Posted 7th Jul 2016
These cute hay animals are really easy to make and bring the scent of a freshly mown meadows inside
You will need:
- Cardboard
- Copper wire (0.4mm diameter, available from most craft shops)
- Hay (available from pet shops)
- A few metal pins
- Two short screws
- A pencil
- Scissors
- Aluminium wire (2mm diameter)
1. You can download the animal templates here. Cut them out.
2. First of all, make the body and two ears from cardboard, then, fasten the copper wire around the neck of the cardboard pig. Starting with the head, wrap hay and copper wire around the entire body. The pig's head and body both need to be somewhat rounder to give the nose, cheeks and stomach their shape. When the animal is clearly recognisable, cut the wire and trim any stalks that are sticking out.
3. For the ears, wrap hay and wire around the cut-out cardboard templates, fix them in place and trim them. To make the legs, cut four approx. 10cm lengths of aluminium wire and wrap them in a thick layer of hay and copper wire. Make sure there is enough wire poking out of the end to fix the legs to the body once you have finished. Twist a shorter piece of aluminium wire to make a curly tail and wrap it in hay and copper wire too.
4. Carefully insert the legs into the body. Conceal the place where each leg is attached to the body using hay, holding it in place with copper wire. Then, attach the ears using pins and twist screws into the head for eyes.
5. Finally, insert the tail into the pig's rear end, twisting as you go.