It Continues... A Time for Suspenders!

Obviously such a large, sloppy fitting chicken suit will require suspenders to keep things up on our young lady. They should further enhance the clownish look and add a little more interesting detail to a character who's facial features will be too small to stand out.

I chose to make the suspenders out of Tupelo scraps. In the past I have used hardwoods like maple for items like this so they will not break easily. Since a lot of the surface of these suspenders could be glued securely to the body, I decided to use Tupelo and work carefully.   

I finished shaping around the neck and sculpting a flat area on each shoulder for the suspender piece to align with. Holding a piece up to the body I marked the inside profile needed to fit the body. I cut it on the scroll saw and with a little sanding I got a shape that contacted the body on the front and back slightly. I them shaped the outside so the suspender was about 3/32" think. See the photo below of one suspender. A whole lot of precision is not needed here as it will not be easily noticed.

​By sanding the shoulders down a little I could get it down fairly snugly. I widened a the space on the back of the body to fit the end of the suspender, and trimmed it to the length that left it "tucked in" on both the front and rear. Here is the suspender in place. It is glued on the chest and back and inside the front and rear belt lines. On dry it can be sanded or shaped a little in place.

Repeat the process and you have something like this.

A thing to watch is that the length of her hair does not interfere with the suspenders as the head rotates. If it does you'll need to give her hair a trim! My head isn't made yet!