Craft Cowpoke Clothespins Ready to Rope!

Cowpoke clothespin dolls dressed in tan felts, trimmed with fringe.

        These two cowpoke clothespin people are a bit more complicated than most... Because each doll is given a sculpted face, they take on even more unique appearances than most! Each doll has also clothing that is fashioned to cover the entire clothespin; only socks and boots are painted directly onto the clothespin. I would consider this clothespin craft better attempted by students in fifth grade and up.

These clothespin dolls have face masks.

Supply List:

• wooden clothespins
• tan, brown felt squares (one each)
• acrylic paints: yellow, flesh, black, tan, red, white and blue
• cotton balls 2 or three
• red yarn for lady's hair
• tan colored twine or brown bag 'twine'
• chenille stems (two)
• needle and thread
• brown embroidery floss
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• oven-bake clay
• face molds (optional)
• wooden stands
• feathers for hats
• braid or ribbons for hats
• decorative scrap paper for decoupaged cowpoke shirts (optional)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Mold or sculpt your cowpoke's face using oven-bake clay. Then glue this directly onto the head of a wooden clothes pin used hot glue.
2. Paint 'boots' and socks onto the wooden pins at the tips of each clothespin.
3. Cover the chenille stem using white school glue and shredded cotton ball. Let this harden. 
4. Twist the chenille stem arms about the neck of the clothespin and glue it into place. 
5. Paint the armature or decoupage it with printed papers. Which ever you prefer. 
6. Tie a kerchief around the neck of each cowpoke.
7. For the lady cowgirl, cut a half circle from both the tan and brown felt to twist about her waist. I used two pieces of felt for her skirt for extra thickness and to also 'show off' the fringes cut along the edge of her skirt with two colors. However, this is not necessary. You could just use one layer of felt if you prefer.
8. I wrapped this half circle up and around, ending at the waist to further emphasize a particular fashion. Hot glue this in place beneath the wrap to hide the glue.
9. Paint the hands a flesh color.
10. Bend the tips of her chenille stem arms into tiny 'hands' and hot glue the 'rope' twine in place. 
11. I braided red yarn and hot glued it into place on either side of her head for a bun-like hairdo. 
12. Then I shaped a cowboy hat using the lighter tan felt to glue permanently on top of her head.
13. The male cowpoke's legs are wrapped to look as though he wears chaps with a fringe extended down the back length of each leg. This was done by cutting rectangle shapes from felt and gluing them directly onto the clothespin legs.
14. His shirt front and back are decoupaged red and white checkered papers. 
15. His arms were made in exactly the same way as his female companion.
16. He wears a vest fashioned with a darker tan felt. This began as a rectangle shape and a hold cut out of the center. Then cut down the front side only to open up the vest on one side. Glue the vest in place using hot glue and shape the collar by folding it down and off to each side of his chest.
17. His cowboy hat and additional details were then glued permanently on to prevent the loss of them during play.

Lady clothespin dressed in Western cowgirl fashion.

A gentleman cowboy wears a feather in his hat and chaps on his wooden legs.