You will hardly believe it is only an ordinary, everyday orange when you have made it into the head that I am going to tell you about.
Select a small, firm, perfect orange and with a pencil mark features on it, first the eyes like [Fig. 199]. Carefully cut out the little spaces of skin between the lines, then mark the nose ([Fig. 200]); cut this and mark the mouth ([Fig. 201]); cut this and at each side of the head draw the ears like [Fig. 202]. You will see that the line of the ear does not continue all the way around; that means that you are simply to run your knife along the line, cutting through the skin so that the ears may be lifted up and peeled forward to stand out from the head; the front part remains attached ([Fig. 203]).
Make the neck of a slender, strong, round stick sharpened to a point at one end. Push the point up into the under part of the orange, where the neck should be, by twisting the stick around as it goes in ([Fig. 204]).
The orange is the head, but your hand and fingers are to be the body and arms to go with it. Look at [Fig. 204]. That will show you how to hold the stick firmly and at the same time leave your first finger and thumb free to use as arms.
Fig.199 - Eyes marked on orange head. | Fig.200 - Eyes cut, nose marked. |
Fig.202 - Ear marked, ready to cut andpeel forward. | |
Fig.201 - Nose cut, mouth marked. | Fig.203 - Mouth cut, ears cut andpeeled forward. |
Pin a handkerchief, or other soft cloth, around Mr. Orange's neck, bring it around to cover your hand and then pretend he is talking while you move his arms and say as many funny things as you can think of. By moving the stick while you hold it in your hand, you can make the orange head turn in various ways ([Figs. 205] and [206]), and a little paper hat fitted on it will make it still funnier ([Fig. 207]).
