A Hangman Style Bird Feeder and a seedy bread type victim. Made from oddments from around the house.

Step 1: Getting Started

Finding all the parts was fairly simple. Using a few scrap pieces of wood, some garden twine and basic hand tools.

Step 2: Gallows Construction

3 pieces of wood are needed for the gallows. We glued the parts and then screwed them together for extra strength. We get some big birds around here! Counter sinking the screws allows us to hide them later using magical wood filler.

Step 3: Finishing the Frame

We filled the small gaps and screw holes with wood filler and sanded it all down. We also sanded the frame with a sanding drum to give it a worn apperence.

Then the entire frame was stained. Our prefered choice of colour was 'Jacobean Oak'. A small eyelet was then added at the end of the top beam for our noose to attach to.

Step 4: Noose

The noose was made using brown garden twine. A single strand looked a bit flimsy, so 3 strands were platted together to form a more proportioned rope. There are plenty of guides on the net that describe tying a noose in far more detail than we could present here, so that bit isn't shown.

Step 5: The Victim

Our sacrificial doughboy was construsted using a simple mix of flour, water and mixed bird seed. We used 200g self-raising flour, 50g bird seed and 175ml of water. The ingredients were mixed into a firm, springy dough and a string 'skeleton' was created to add strength and help bind the various body parts together.

Each part was rolled/shaped by hand and then assembled around the string skeleton on a lightly greased baking tray. The little guys were then baked in a pre-heated oven of around 250C/Gas Mark 9 so that they hardened quickly and kept their shape. They took about 20 minutes to cook evenly.

Step 6: Putting It All Together ... the Execution

Finally the gallows was screwed onto the shed using the pre-drilled countersunk holes in the vertical piece. The bready dead-boy was then placed into the noose and hung....a moment's silence please...

To support his weak bread-head a small metal hook was made using stiff wire. One end was stuck in his back and the other hooked around the noose to support some of the weight.

Now we can sit back and watch the birds feast on his tiny corpse. Joy!