crow tutorial
Ever wonder how to make a fake crow? Sure you have! We all need more fake crows in our lives, so here’s how you can make your own.
Photos by Alex Em
Step 1: Get foam and a knife!
If you’re like me, you can ask your boss at Target for Styrofoam packaging and then nervously laugh when they ask you why. If you’re not like me, you can purchase foam blocks at craft stores.
Cut out a block from the foam larger than the size you want your fake crow to be. Never measure anything if you live fast and furiously like me, but remember you can always cut away more if it’s too big. Using a marker, draw a simple bird body shape from the side and front, like so. Prepare yourself because it’s about to get messy.
Step 2: Carve the body
Go grab that paring knife from your kitchen that your mom keeps telling you not to use for your craft projects and saw away parts of foam to create a crow body using your lines as a guide. Pieces of foam will fly away and fall everywhere and be impossible to pick up. Line your work surface to catch shavings while carving if you want less...fun.
Step 3: Smoothing
You can skip this step if you like but I prefer to sand the foam body of my birds with a superfine piece of sandpaper. It helps the feathers to lay flat later. Plus it looks nice. Look at it! It’s so fine it blows my mind!
Step 4: Sculpt beak
Polymer clay is great for making beaks. (Trust me, I know, I had to make 9 of these for various reasons!) Roll out a cone of it for your crow. You can add nostrils and a line for the mouth or just leave it like this. Stick a wire in it and bake according to package instructions. It also helps if you put a band on your ring finger to discourage people asking you to date them. Life tip.
Step 5: Glue beak
Hot glue or super glue your pinned beak in place. That’s it for this step.
Step 6: Feathers
After acquiring fake black feathers and Scotch glue spray from Michael’s you can feather these babies outside. Again, prepare for a mess! You can use scissors to cut tiny pieces of the feather fluff and adhere them to the crow bodies with tweezers. Cover the entire body with fluff and use larger feathers for the wings and tail.
Step 7: Crow feet
The challenge-iest bit is the feet. Soldering a L shape of wire to a separate V shape of wire to make a simple crows foot takes practice. However, once you’re done you’ll be so much better at soldering! Also throw away that black wire you bought before realizing you can’t solder painted metal.
Step 8: Paint the feet
...and forget to take a picture of it for that fake crow tutorial you were making. It’s easy, though, just brush the feet with watered down black acrylic paint and let it dry. Repeat for extra coverage and spray with a sealant for protection.
Step 9: Glue it together and admire your work~
Once the feet are dry, you can use the smallest black brads Michael’s has to offer to use as crow eyes, and E6000 glue to keep everything in place. Once assembled let the glue dry, then your mini murder is ready to take over the world! All that’s left is to give them to a friend and go take a nap. Happy crow making!