Push a wooden knitting needle (about 1/8 inch in diameter) through the holes in the hands, see that it fits tightly, add a little glue if there is any danger of the needle slipping round inside the holes.
Two pieces of stripwood, E, are next sawn about 11" × ¼" × ½". These posts must have holes drilled in them near the top for the knitting needle to pass through, and revolve freely. The posts are nailed and glued to a base, the size of which will depend upon the length of the bar which the gymnast turns upon.
Two or three gymnasts look well swinging together, or a gymnast, a monkey and a clown. In this case 12" × 6" × ¼" makes a good stand. The posts are supported by triangular supports. On turning the knitting needle the little figure will revolve in a life-like manner, and perform many of the professional exercises of the horizontal bar. The actions are made more realistic if the man's head is weighted with a piece of lead, so as to make his head more nearly the same weight as his body.
The Dancing Clown. Draw on cardboard or three-ply wood and cut out the head and body of the clown as in Fig. 403. Colour it, and cut out another piece exactly the same to represent the back of the clown. Draw and cut out two arms as in Fig. 404, two legs as in Fig. 405. Cut out two small discs of lead, and glue them behind the balls in his hands; glue little pieces of lead behind his boots. His arms and legs are fastened together by thread, as in Fig. 406. The back part of the body hides the strings.
This clown can be hung inside a box, and the strings passed through a hole (directly underneath the clown) in another box upon which he can then be made to dance, as in Fig. 407. The figure works best if properly balanced; see that the arms and legs are equal in size and weight.
Rocking Horses and Elephants. The simplest way of making a rocking horse is shown in Fig. 408. Two rockers, A B C, are cut out of cardboard (medium thickness). Next two horses, D, are drawn on cartridge paper, the distance between the fore and hind feet corresponding to the distance A C in the rockers. The horses are coloured and cut out, and their heads and tails gummed together. The four legs are then fastened with paper-fasteners (or with gum) to the ends of the two rockers. A wooden rocking horse is made in the following way. The two rockers, A B and C D, are cut out of three-ply wood with a fret-saw. The arc of a circle of 4 inches to 4½ inches radius is a good size; width of rocker, H K (Fig. 409), ¾ inch.
Three pieces of stripwood ¼ inch by ¼ inch are sawn, length 3¼ inches, E, F and G. Pencil-marks must be made on the two rockers to show where these strips are to go, one in the middle, the other two at the ends. Before fastening them on, a slit is sawn in the middle of each end-piece, as at E and G.
Fig. 408