Rotating Dude

This is a very simple, rotating little dude. It is highly customizable, so there would be many ways to make one. I'll tell you how I made mine. 

The materials you will need are all supplementary: 

Some rope made out of synthetic fibers (or string, or yarn, or something to make hair out of)
electric tooth brush (or another motor, battery powered would be best)
Wire (I'm sure paperclips would work fine, or any other type of wire- thin or thick)
Cloth (Optional- it's for the tie) 
Clay (I used Sculpey clay, as seen in the photo)
Two Thumbtacks (Some Googly Eyes would look good too)
Sharpie (For the thumbtacks, to draw eyes)
One regular tack (for nose, but really anything will do)

The tools you will need are all supplementary, if you don't have any of these things, I suggest you finish reading the instructions anyway, because you might not need it: 

Scissors
Hot Glue gun
Saw

Step 1: The Spinning Motor

The first step is to find a motor, I suggest a battery powered motor, like the one I used, but it shouldn't matter. The motor from image 1 is the one I used, from an electric toothbrush. However any motor that creates a vibratory motion will do. 

These are steps to making the motor suitable, from the electronic toothbrush (skip if you are not using that kind):

1. Remove all unnecessary parts, to reveal the motor as much as possible
2. When this is done, there will be some remaining plastic covering it, saw this off, to expose the rotating top

Step 2: Covering With Clay

This is the part where you cover the motor and the battery with clay, whatever color suits you, leave the top of the motor free to rotate. Sculpey worked nicely for me. 


To make it work best and spin fastest, you should use as thin of a layer of clay as possible. Distribute the clay evenly.

Step 3: Decorating the Face

To make the face and hair: 

1. Eyes drawn on the thumbtacks, and stick those tacks into the clay. To look like eyes. 
2. Nose, mine was out of a regular kind of tack
3. Mouth, mine was made out of the absence of clay in the shape of a smiling mouth. This also revealed the button to start the motor
4. Ears, I had none on mine, but I'm sure they would look cute

Hair: I made my hair out of a rope made of synthetic fibers. The thin plastic strings I spread apart once I glued them to the top of the spinning motor 

1. Cut Rope, string, or yarn
2. Hot glue onto the top of the spinning motor

To change speed of spinning or to stop spinning at completely, adjust hair so the balance gets changed. 

Step 4: Arms and Legs

Arms:

I used this wire wrapped in a white fiber, I bought it at the Goodwill, so I don't know what they are called. I'm sure any kind of wire would work well, probably better. The lighter the better, so it spins faster. I suggest a thin wire or paper clips, anything will do though. 

Wrap the body of your little dude with the wire, and then stop when it reaches your desired length

Legs:

If you want legs, I think spider legs could look good. 

I was thinking about attaching markers to legs and arms, so you could stick it on top of paper and have it draw. 

Step 5: The Tie

Tie: 

If you want a tie a tie around the wire, to hide the remaining wire, just get a piece of cloth and some scissors 

Cut out a long thick rectangle, thin it out from the sides, and cut out a tie shape in the middle.