Tiger chicken

I love chickens, they are just about the coolest thing to watch so having one in my living room would be better than watching them in the back garden arguing over slices of bread. After reinforcing some of the chicken play zone with chicken wire I wanted to see what else I could do with this fantastic material. Its so malleable and fun to mess with, gives great shape and easily kept the kids entertained for a day making shapes

To start with I made an approximation of a chickens shape. Getting it to balance out was tricky but I weighted the feet with more wire and hoped for the best.

A pair of wire cutters or kitchen scissors that you no longer love will cut through the chicken wire easily, be prepared for scrapes and nicks off it.

I made my paper maiche with just flour and water, I added some salt to prevent it from becoming a home for bugs and use a good breadsheet newspaper for paper, Ive found that the aper tends to be a little heavier in big newspapers so that it survives being dipped more. (Use the tabloids to cover the working area!)

Start layering from the top down, being careful to cover all the wire. Allow to dry somewhere airy for at least 3 days, it can take longer depending on how thick it is in places. When that's done back you go to your pot of boiling water and flour and repeat the process.

As you can see the chicken wasn't really bang on, it was somewhere between a Pekin shape and a Brahma, but it worked!

I spray painted the hen yellow as I had a can of yellow paint lying around, I also speckled bits of orange across the body, the tiger stripes were a late decision and for the life of me I cant imagine a more suitable finishing touch