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Scarecrows
Making Harvest Figures and Other Yard Folks

by Marlene Hurley Marshall

ISBN 1-58017-067-6
112 pages; 7 1/2" x 11"; Paperback.

You don’t have to have crows to add charm and whimsy to your yard or garden with a scarecrow. Here’s the only book to give you step-by-step instructions for creating your own piece of American folk art—20 projects, from the traditional Wizard of Oz strawman to some wild and fabulous figures.

Excerpt from Scarecrows

What You Will Need:

• One 2 x 4" board, 2' long
• One 1 x 8" board, 3' long
• Hammer and nails
• Old clothing
• Chopped straw
• Queen-size tan stocking or one leg of panty hose
• Straw
• Markers
• Reeds at least 2' long
• Twine
• Pins
• Fresh or dried flowers

This ravishing creature, spotted in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, can be nailed to an upright board on the roof of a shed. Her body is made from chopped straw, and her luxuriant hair from gathered reeds.

How to Do It

1. Set the 2 x 4 across the middle of the 1 x 8, with 1' of the 2 x 4 protruding. Nail together.

2. Set nailed boards in a chair and dress the form in old clothing of your choice.

3. Stuff the clothing with chopped straw.

4. Draw a face on the stocking with markers and stuff it.

5. Place stocking head atop protruding 2 x 4.

6. To create the hair, gather the reeds at one end, tie them together tightly with twine, and pin them on the head. Fan out ends over the scarecrow's shoulders.

7. Decorate the scarecrow with fresh or dried flowers.

8. Nail 1 x 8 to roof of shed.