Fig. 108.
Draw your monkey carefully on the three-ply wood, the body and limbs all separate, and a thin stump on to which the tail must be fastened. With the awl pierce tiny holes through arms, body, and legs, where they are attached, and insert a piece of wire, and with the pliers turn a small close knot in it on each side to prevent it coming out. Small wire paper clips will do instead if they can be got. Now saw off the rims of your two reels—they must be the same size—and into one of your reels fasten two staples over the pin and into the reel, so that they hold the pin very tightly, catching the pin just at one end. With another staple through each hand fasten the arms of your monkey to this reel, and slip the other reel round the same knitting-pin and extend your monkey to its fullest length, and now fix the other knitting-pin to the second reel so that its point projects a little way through the first reel. Keeping the monkey stretched to its fullest length fasten his feet with staples to the second reel, and be sure that the limbs work quite loosely in these staples. Now with mending yarn make a tassel and fasten it to the end of your hat wire, and wrap the wire all the way up with it almost to the end. Then proceed to lash the wire to the stump of the tail and bend the tail in a nice curve; this will vibrate when your monkey is worked up and down.
A DANCING LADY
Materials Required:—
Strong heavy white cardboard or thin wood, sharp knife or fret saw, crinkled paper, water color paints, a tiny portion of a quill, a tiny roll of tin or lead foil, small fine pins or wire, a small piece of narrow ribbon, a little writing paper, mucilage, string, scissors, pliers.
Fig. 109.
This dainty little figure can be made to dance along a double string and can be very pretty. Cut out the body and legs and arms all separately; they may be drawn on white paper, or cut out and pasted on to the cardboard. If you find it difficult to make a pretty face, a suitable one may be cut from some picture post card and pasted on. The arms and legs must be fastened on to the body with a little wire which should be run through a tiny bead and twisted so that it does not come out. Roll the lead foil into a little long weight and stitch one down to the lower portion of the body both at the back and front. The crinkled paper skirt must be gathered on a draw-thread with a needle and tied evenly and tightly round the waist and fastened neatly with a little ribbon sash. Through the stomach of the little figure insert a tiny length of the quill of a feather and glue it into place; let it project towards the back more than the front. Through this quill run your string doubled so that there is a long loop both back and front and be sure that the string works easily through the quill. A portion of a tiny reel will do instead of a quill if it is glued on to the back. The object of the quill or reel is to form a tube, so that the figure will slip along this when the string is slackened, but that it will hold firm whenever the string is tightened. The weights must be heavy enough to make the figure balance and run downwards as the string is sloped. A pair of butterfly wings can be cut out of writing paper and painted and fastened to the back. A little garland of everlasting flowers or moss or beads can be fastened to the hands if you wish to do so.