Wondering how to make scarecrows? Scarecrows have been around since ancient times for keeping crop stealing animals away from gardens and fruits. Scarecrows are great humane, attractive and green ways to reduce pest damage on crops.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
Step 1
Make a scarecrow cross. Scarecrows start with a basic cross in the same proportions as the familiar Christian cross. Any water resistant material will do: old fence posts, bamboo, PVC pipe, etc. Cut the tall piece the size you want the completed scarecrow to be and cut the secondary crossing piece to proportion. Put the two pieces together on the ground as a cross, and connect with tape, criss-crossing back and forth between the cross joints until the connection is firm.
Step 2
Make the scarecrow's head. In the olden days, straw from feed sacks was used to make scarecrows' heads. If you want to make the old-fashioned kind, lay a soccer ball sized amount of packed straw, completely dried grass clippings, or old leaves in the center of a yard of burlap (sold at fabric stores), gather the burlap around the stuffing, affix it to the top of the cross, and tie it closed around the top of the cross with rope or raffia cord. Cut out eyes, nose and grin from scrap fabric or use old buttons. Though these were sewn on in the olden days, you can probably get away with using fabric glue. Other modern choices include stuffing an old pillow case or canvas bag with rags, or cutting a hole in an old sports ball (soccer, basketball), affixing it to the top of the cross, wrapping about a yard of old sheet over the ball and tying it in place as with the burlap head, affixing a face with glued on craft store or felt-cut eyes, nose and mouth.
Step 3
Gather the scarecrow's outfit. Old clothing from around the house or second hand stores make great sources for outfits for making scarecrows. You need a large long sleeved shirt, gloves, and long pants. A hat large enough for the stuffed head is a fun option.
Step 4
Dress the scarecrow. Put the shirt over the "arms" of the cross. Affix a glove to each end with safety pins (if shirt sleeves aren't long enough to reach the ends, that's okay, just affix the gloves to the ends of the shirt and let them flap down a little). At this point, you can choose to stuff the inside of the shirt if you wish with straw, old rags or dried leaves. Tie the bottom of the shirt to the scarecrow's main pole to keep the stuffing inside. Or, you can just let the shirt hang free of stuffing. Attach the top of the pants to the front bottom edge of the shirt with jumbo safety pins. This scarecrow leaves the legs to blow in the breeze instead of stuffing the pant legs and pinning them down into old shoes, so there's more movement. Attach the hat to the head and secure with safety pins if it's loose.
Step 5
Put the scarecrow in place so it can move. Animals get used to even their mock enemies if they're motionless for long, possibly because they think they've died. Instead of digging a permanent hole to hold up the scarecrow, or affixing it permanently to a fencepost, have someone hold the bottom of the cross inside an empty five gallon bucket and fill it with a combination of heavy rocks and sand. This will hold up the scarecrow while enabling one or two people to move it every few days to keep it appearing live. If you've used extra heavy materials when making the scarecrow, you may need to surround the bucket with a few more smaller containers filled with stones, soil or sand to help hold up the top-heavy weight.
Step 6
Make the scarecrow motion activated by the wind. This simple handmade scarecrow can't be activated by animal movement, but it can vary its movement with each light breeze. Every few days, attach a new object to one or both of the arms: a balloon tied to a string, reflector tape, a small windsock, old scarves, old second hand wind chimes, etc. Animals will get used to the same movement and sound when it never changes, so cut off the old one and replace it with something knew every few days.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
Step 1
Make a scarecrow cross. Scarecrows start with a basic cross in the same proportions as the familiar Christian cross. Any water resistant material will do: old fence posts, bamboo, PVC pipe, etc. Cut the tall piece the size you want the completed scarecrow to be and cut the secondary crossing piece to proportion. Put the two pieces together on the ground as a cross, and connect with tape, criss-crossing back and forth between the cross joints until the connection is firm.
Step 2
Make the scarecrow's head. In the olden days, straw from feed sacks was used to make scarecrows' heads. If you want to make the old-fashioned kind, lay a soccer ball sized amount of packed straw, completely dried grass clippings, or old leaves in the center of a yard of burlap (sold at fabric stores), gather the burlap around the stuffing, affix it to the top of the cross, and tie it closed around the top of the cross with rope or raffia cord. Cut out eyes, nose and grin from scrap fabric or use old buttons. Though these were sewn on in the olden days, you can probably get away with using fabric glue. Other modern choices include stuffing an old pillow case or canvas bag with rags, or cutting a hole in an old sports ball (soccer, basketball), affixing it to the top of the cross, wrapping about a yard of old sheet over the ball and tying it in place as with the burlap head, affixing a face with glued on craft store or felt-cut eyes, nose and mouth.
Step 3
Gather the scarecrow's outfit. Old clothing from around the house or second hand stores make great sources for outfits for making scarecrows. You need a large long sleeved shirt, gloves, and long pants. A hat large enough for the stuffed head is a fun option.
Step 4
Dress the scarecrow. Put the shirt over the "arms" of the cross. Affix a glove to each end with safety pins (if shirt sleeves aren't long enough to reach the ends, that's okay, just affix the gloves to the ends of the shirt and let them flap down a little). At this point, you can choose to stuff the inside of the shirt if you wish with straw, old rags or dried leaves. Tie the bottom of the shirt to the scarecrow's main pole to keep the stuffing inside. Or, you can just let the shirt hang free of stuffing. Attach the top of the pants to the front bottom edge of the shirt with jumbo safety pins. This scarecrow leaves the legs to blow in the breeze instead of stuffing the pant legs and pinning them down into old shoes, so there's more movement. Attach the hat to the head and secure with safety pins if it's loose.
Step 5
Put the scarecrow in place so it can move. Animals get used to even their mock enemies if they're motionless for long, possibly because they think they've died. Instead of digging a permanent hole to hold up the scarecrow, or affixing it permanently to a fencepost, have someone hold the bottom of the cross inside an empty five gallon bucket and fill it with a combination of heavy rocks and sand. This will hold up the scarecrow while enabling one or two people to move it every few days to keep it appearing live. If you've used extra heavy materials when making the scarecrow, you may need to surround the bucket with a few more smaller containers filled with stones, soil or sand to help hold up the top-heavy weight.
Step 6
Make the scarecrow motion activated by the wind. This simple handmade scarecrow can't be activated by animal movement, but it can vary its movement with each light breeze. Every few days, attach a new object to one or both of the arms: a balloon tied to a string, reflector tape, a small windsock, old scarves, old second hand wind chimes, etc. Animals will get used to the same movement and sound when it never changes, so cut off the old one and replace it with something knew every few days.
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