For my friend’s birthday, I wanted to make him something unusual - and so I was delighted when I found a youtube video of a hacked Jerry the Giraffe dancing toy made into a personalized bobble head/animated doll.
The first question was where to get the actual toy body. I checked the local Toys R’Us, but they didn’t sell that doll nor did they have any other animatronic dolls. So I called up my friend Peter, who owns a comic store in Lafayette. Fortunately, he had a dancing chipmunk that sang (perfect!) “You Say It’s Your Birthday,” in a loud, screeching voice. It was almost TOO annoying, but once I got it home and took it apart, I figured I can muffle the sound slightly. I’m currently crafting the head out of Sculpey, and plan on making clothes for the doll as well. The main trouble I’ve run into is aligning the Stephen head with the body of the toy; I actually have to make drill holes in the Sculpey head because the chipmunk’s head bobs in time with the music.
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