Peacocks' Tails Trail Workshop

The children of Starcross Primary School made lots of progress today in Melissa Muldoon's Peacock Club workshop

The workshops started 2 weeks ago. The children looked at pictures of peacocks, real peacock's feathers and a model of a peacock. Because the Peacocks' Tails will be displayed outside, stuff used to make them had to be weatherproof.

 

Materials gathered included: CDs, silver foil, bottle tops, plastic sheets, buttons and beads. 

Here's some of the peacocks' tails eyes

 The next stage was to devise a framework for the peacocks' tails. There are lots of ways this could be done. Here's a tail Pauline made by attaching some wooden slats to an old fireguard, covering the slats with green netting, and trimming the netting into a fan shape with feathered edges.

When the children attached the eyes, and some green tinsel was added the result was magnificent. This promises to be a spectacular tail.

Melissa started another tail with a broken garden rake for the base

White feathers, made from plastic milkbottles, were added. More decoration will create another splendid tail.

A another idea from Melissa: attach green plastic feathers; made from a sheet of scrap plastic flooring; to some aluminium rods (which might have once been a TV aerial) 

There's another tail-in-the-making behind this one. It's a broken, blue umbrella.

When the eyes were added to the feathery fan, everyone thought the result was really good

Messy Church in St Paul's Church are going to make 2 tails. One will be for Captain George Peacock's grave in the churchyard, which will be the starting point for the Peacock's Tails Trail around the village. The other Messy Church tail will be the finishing point; in St Paul's Church.

At least 10 tails will be made for the Peacocks' Tails Trail, which will be a trail around some of the historical places in Starcross on St George's Day - Saturday, April 23rd. Tail Trail cards will be on sale in the church on the day, for £1 each. The cards will list the whereabouts of each tail with a rhyming clue, in true Dartmoor letterbox style. Each tail will be near to one of the important places in the village, such as Regent's House where Captain George Peacock lived. Captain Peacock invented a screw propeller, and anti-fouling paint. He designed his iconic, Victorian yacht 'The Swan of the Exe' - which is pictured on  the Starcross History club badge.

 By each tail on the list will be a Dartmoor letterbox-style rubber stamp with a stamp-pad. The first 50 cards back, complete with all the stamps, will win a real peacock's feather.

Captain George Peacock lived in Regent's House

Look for the letterbox under the mouse 

and please has anyone an old computer mouse they don't need? Cheers 

Starcross residents are invited to make and display a peacock's tail outside their house, with a Dartmoor letterbox-style stamp and pad hidden nearby. For your creation to be listed on the Peacocks' Tails Trail cards, and to have a chance to win the trophy for the BEST PEACOCK'S TAIL; please let us know about it before April 1st. 

The Peacocks' Tails will have another outing on Scarecrow Day; Saturday, 18th June. They also have a 3rd engagement - with Trail Recycled Art in the Landscape in Teignmouth for the summer season.

If you have anything you would give us to make a peacock's tail, please get in touch.

Thanks