Introduction: Stuffed-Animal Headphones

This will show you how to make a quick (10-minute), cuddly audio accessory out of a pair of cheap headphones and two small stuffed animals. Not much in the way of skills is necessary.

Your friends and acquaintances will coo with delight!

Step 1: Procure the Supplies.

What you will need:

-One pair cheap headphones (mine were of the 5-dollar Amtrak variety, I believe), preferably small-ish with removable foam ear discs, although this is not a necessity.

-Two stuffed animals. You want these to be medium-small and (preferably) cheap. I don't want you cutting into any Steiff bears, now. You'll save yourself loads of time if the animal has a seam up it's back. You can find them in places like drugstores and five-and-dimes.

-Seam ripper

-Needle and thread

-Quality Music

-Fabric glue (optional. I didn't use any, but it's up to you.)

Step 2: Un-Suture the Poor Bastards.

Use the seam ripper to tear through that handy back-seam, pulling out cut threads as you go. If you didn't get an animal with a back-seam, well, shame on you. In this case, I would suggest you make a very neat, straight cut along where the back-seam would be if it had one (down the middle of the toy's back). You don't necessarily need to undo the whole seam, just enough to fit the earpiece of the headphone in. Remember to take care and make it neat, because you're going to have to sew it all back up again in a moment. If your stuffed animal seems ill-at-ease, reassure it with a comforting pat on the head and tell it, in soothing tones, that everything will be all-right.

Repeat for second animal.

Step 3: Insert the Earpiece.

First of all, check to see a) how thick each animal's "fur" is, and b) what kind of earpiece you are dealing with. For example, my earphones had a kind of hard, thin, plastic cup around the speaker itself. Not something I would want jabbing into my head. The tan-colored bear had thin-ish "fur", so when I inserted the earpiece I left the foam disc on. The koala, however, had very thick "fur", so as to avoid muffling of the sound I took the foam disc off. Due to the thickness of the "fur" I thankfully could not feel the speaker inside.
But anyway, insert the speaker, noisy-side up (meaning facing the back of the animal). This is where some glue could come in handy, but again, I didn't need any.

Step 4: Stitch It Back Up.

Use you needle and thread to sew up the back-seam (I used a simple whipstitch), adjusting the earphone as necessary as you go. Leave the wire hanging out of the bottom of the seam and the connector for the earphones (the "headband" part) out of the top. Again, glue?
Do it neatly, and don't try to make the "scar" too big. That won't feel very pretty on tender ears.

Repeat for both earphones.

Step 5: Plug in Your Freshly-Minted Plush Headphones and Jam.

May I suggest some nice theatre organ music?
http://www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/radiogramtitle.htm

And have fun! I would welcome any feedback, and if you do decide to do this project, I would love to know how it turns out!

Love,
WurlitzerGirl
>..<

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