Headless Horseman

This past August we went to New York state and passed through the village of Sleepy Hollow. This was the setting for Washington Irving's story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Check out the picture of the Old Dutch Church above It was built in 1697! I have read the story and have always loved the Disney cartoon based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, so I just had to see this place!

Anyway, with Halloween approaching, it seemed the right time to make some Halloween characters, and Sleepy Hollow's Headless Horseman was a th the top of the list. For this figure I knew that I would have to try something new by giving him an extended arm. He had to be able to hold that pumpkin!

What I did to make this figure was to first carve out the body on the wood lathe, and then then use the rotary tool for a little extra detail on the collar. Next came the pumpkin, which was made from a separate piece of wood. For the extended arm, I drilled a hole in the side of his body at an angle so that his arm would be lifted up. After figuring the length that the arm would need to be, I took a craft stick, cut it to length, then cut it in half at an angle to make the elbow joint. After gluing those in place, I used half of a wood bead for the hand, and then glued the pumpkin on top. The cape is made from a piece of felt, glued to the back of the Horseman's collar, and has an added piece of string around the cape and collar to serve as the tie for the cape.

One of the best features of this figure? The pumpkin face, as well as the Horseman's hands buttons and seam down his shirt all glow in the dark!