Wooden Toy Plans - The Clog-dancer
The Clog-dancer (Fig. 109) is an easily made loose-jointed doll. His dancing-stage is a shingle or piece of stiff cardboard held on the edge of a chair beneath your knee. He is held by means of the string attached to his head, so that his feet rest lightly upon the stage, and he is made to jig by tapping the outer end of the stage with the free hand.
With a little practice the figure can be made to go through the steps of the most eccentric clog-dancer.
The more grotesque the dancer's appearance is, the more amusing his dancing will be, so the cruder you make him the better. Figure 112 shows the working details for his construction.
The center part of a thread-spool forms the head, and a spool-end and the rounded end of a broom-handle form the hat. These three pieces are nailed together. The body is a piece of a broom-handle, and a spool-end nailed to it forms the shoulders.
Drive a nail into the end of the body, tie a string to this, and run the string up through the hole in the head, and out through a hole in the hat; tie the string to a fancy-work ring.
Fig. 112.—Details of Body of the Clog-dancer shown in Fig. 109.
The arms and legs are made of sticks whittled to the lengths marked in Fig. 112, and about ¼ inch in diameter, and are jointed by driving tacks into their ends and connecting these with heavy linen thread. Figure 112 shows how the feet and hands are cut, and how tacks are driven into them for the thread connections. Paint the clog-dancer's body, arms, and legs white, his head, hands, and feet black, and mark his eyes, nose, and mouth upon his face in white.
HOME-MADE TOYS FOR GIRLS AND BOYS
BOOKS BY A. NEELY HALL
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON
Published, August, 1915
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