March of the Homeless Penguins

Young Friends of the Earth's first action is going to

 be a March of the Homeless Penguins through 

London on 6th December 2008.  

 Meet at Grosvenor Square at 12pm (north east corner of the Square by Duke Street) and look out for a colony of penguins!

But first, you're probably wondering how to make your own costume.  It couldn't be easier. Here's my Penguin Recipe...

Ingredients:

- 2 metres of black material (stretchy is best)
- 1 metre of white material (same as the black)
- 1 sewing machine (or mum/granny/friend who has one or knows how to sew!)
- 1 black woolly hat with a peak- black elastic and white elastic

- some black, white and yellow card.

- scissors, pins, stapler, masking tape, etc...

Step 1 - Making the body

This is the most complicated bit.  You need to measure out a length of 

black and white material that's long enough to cover you from your feet up to under your armpits.   The black piece (which will be your back) should be slightly wider than the white piece (your front).  The top will be much narrower than the bottom.. in fact it's best to make the bottom quite wide as this will make it easier to walk in the costume. 

Cut these out to the required shape and size, making sure that the black overlaps slightly round to your front like the picture.  Pin the pieces together and then sew them together. (if you really can't sew or use a machine, then the simple option would be to staple or stick together with some fabric bonder but that might not be very durable!). 

Then you need to elastify the top part so that the 

costume stays up.  Roll down the top part of the costume a couple of inches and then sew all the

way around, leaving a tiny 1 inch gap through w

hich you can thread the elastic.  Then just tie one end of your elastic to a pencil or something straight, and thread the elastic into the top of the costume.  Pull it through and tie the ends together so that the costume will stay up on you, as shown. 

That's it! 

Step 2 - Making the wings/arms

Out of your leftover black material you can make the top part of the 

penguin that will cover your shoulders and arms.  For this you just need an oblong-shaped piece of material with a hole for your head and it has to be long enough to hang down overlapping where the penguin body starts (see pic).   It also needs to be long enough so that it reaches down to the end of your hands on each side. 

Once you've got the right size, simply cut a slot in the middle of the material to pop your head through.  Then attach a small black elastic loop to the end of each arm which you can hook onto your fingers to keep the wings from flapping around when we're on the march. 

Step 3 - Making the head

This is the easiest bit.  Start with a black beanie hat with a peak (as shown).  Using black and white card, cut out two eye-shaped circles and stick together.  Then using masking tape or staples you can affix these to the front of the hat, above the peak.

For the beak, you'll need some yellow/orange card.  Just cut out a long triangle and fold down the middle to create the beak. Then affix this to the peak of the hat (I just stapled it on so it wouldn't fly away).  Et voila!

Put the whole thing together and you've got a very convincing penguin costume.

Step 4 - Making it homeless

This is where you can get creative.  The idea behind using penguins is to show that the damage we're causing to the planet through accelerating climate change is going to impact on all living beings, including animals.  Penguins need to get political! 

Think about a slogan for your penguin to hold on a placard, or how else you could represent a homeless penguin.   In the past we've created large banners saying March of the Homeless Penguins, and placards reading 'Save the Humans', 'I'm homeless', 'Global Climate Deal NOW'. 

To identify ourselves, it would be great if we could have a Young Friends of the Earth banner too.