Made by Malinda Seger
I purchased the donkey pattern on December 4th and enlarged it to make it “life sized” to use in our nativity pageant we did Christmas Eve (tonight). I attached it to a moving box, added a rolling cart made from pvc pipe and castors, padded everything and covered it with a couple of inexpensive throws I found at Dollar tree.
I made a door for “Mary” to get into it and added a rope halter for “Joseph” to lead them down the aisle to “Bethlehem”. Everyone was amazed when they saw it going to the front of the church. Mary decided to pick it up to take it onto the stage and she positioned it looking at the manger. Joseph and Mary even petting it and scratched it between the eyes while we were singing carols.
“Daniel the Donkey” was a highlight of the pageant and parents even brought their little ones to have pictures taken with him after the program. Thank you for sharing your talent with us! I could not have pulled it off without your pattern. I was trying do do it on my own using a cardboard “skeleton”, but I knew it would be so much better and quicker if I just purchased the pattern. Thank you again! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Cleverly done! I’m sure the children loved him.
Malinda, I can see why Daniel the Donkey was such a popular addition to your Nativity pageant. I really hope you have a good place to store him, so he can appear again next year. 🙂
Thank you! Our new house will be finished in a few weeks and we will move him to the basement. I plan to make some improvements over the summer by securing the castors with screws instead of hot glue, adding on a nicer larger gray throw I found that won’t require piecing it together, adding details to the eyes (I used painted ping pong balls and didn’t cover them with paper mache), and raising up the point on the front legs where they start (I had referred to photos of donkeys and saw that the front legs started lower, but I went too low). I know it’s good enough “as is”, but I’m retired and have the time (IF I’m not spending all my time still unpacking unending boxes of “stuff”acquired through 40 years of marriage.?). If I’m really industrious, maybe I can make at least one life size camel for the wise men to lead to the manger!?. In the meantime, Danny the Donkey is being stored in a Sunday School classroom. I’m hoping it doesn’t scare anyone when entering like it did me (and I put it there)!
I’m so glad he’s going to have more jobs to do. I know moving isn’t fun (I’m thinking about doing it myself next year) but I hope you have fun making the changes to Danny. He looks great already, of course, but you do have some good ideas for him. Have fun with your camel! We can’t wait to see how it comes out. 🙂