Tweety Felt Bird
A #mashup of the Felt Bird and Paper Whistle projects
Click the image above to see and hear the video with added tweeting sound!
This project is a mash-up of the Felt Bird and Paper Whistle. I’ve changed the size of the paper whistles so that they fit neatly on the side of the paper cup. I’ve also changed the size of one whistle to give a two tone effect. Paid subscribers can download the parts for the whistle template from the end of this post, thanks for your support! Free subscribers can download the template from www.robives.com
Think of this as more of a guide than full instructions. There is a lot of space for interpretation and experimentation so I’ve given a rough outline of what I did to make my tweety bird. Feel free to modify it to your hearts content. Check out the Felt Bird and Paper Whistle for more detailed instructions of the original projects.
I’ve replaced the skewer axle from the Felt Bird project with a wire and bead crank then added the cams by hot gluing then to the wire. The cams will drive the bird, the wire crank will drive the two paper whistles.
With the twist plate in place in the cup I threaded the crank into place with short lengths of paper straw keeping it centred.
Having made up the two modified paper whistles, I glued them onto opposite sides of the cup. I then added a bead to the crank wire and shaped it into a crank handle.
I cut two slots, one on each side of the cup just below the whistles. On each side, I threaded a paperclip wire with a loop on the end and fastened it to the crank.
I folded the end of the paperclip wires as a place I could attach a paper tab to connect to the bellows.
To finish off the tweeting mechanism I attached paper tabs to the paperclips and glued the ends to the ends of the bellows. I found I needed to curve the paperclip wire so that the mechanism didn’t catch in the slots in the paper cup.
I finished off the project by trimming the vertical shaft to length and adding a felt bird. I found there was a fair bit of strain on the join between the wire and a bellows so make sure that the glue is completely dry before you test your tweeting bird.
Turn the handle to make the bird bob about and tweet!
Paid subscribers can download the template for the smaller paper whistles below, thanks for your support. The file is also available on www.robives.com