Make a Snake Tutorial

About a month ago, in the thick of the drama of the new baby goats (who struggled with nursing for the first couple of days), Jaz was bitten by a snake. Whenever I tell this story, Lena is quick to point out that it was just a garter snake, but that really means nothing to me, since I am definitely not a snake person. Jaz, however, takes after his Mama on this one, and is a snake-lover.

What happened is that Jaz was trying to catch the snake, just outside of the goat barn where I was squatting, trying to latch two brand-new baby goats onto the teats of their less-than-patient mother, and the next thing I knew, he was screaming an awful scream. Lena was out there with him (along with Araela, Lukas, and Zeb), so I didn't immediately jump up to see what could possibly be making my child scream like that. And I'm really glad I didn't. Because, apparently, what I would have seen was Jaz, hopping around, screaming, with a snake dangling from his arm by its teeth. Jaz had grabbed the snake too close to it's rear-end, and the snake had opened its mouth and swung its whole body around, grabbing on to the first bit of flesh that it could, which happened to be in the middle of Jasper's forearm. And it remained there, clamped into his skin, for about 15 seconds, until Jaz was finally able to shake it off.

Once I heard the words, "bitten!" and "snake!" exclaimed by some of the child witnesses, along with Jaz's continued wailing, I abandoned my post as goat lactation consultant, and ran outside to see what was going on. What I saw was Jaz, still crying, though not as desperately, with blood pouring down his arm. It was obvious that he had indeed, been bitten by a snake. Lena was--8 months pregnant--crouched over by a tree, posed to catch the snake with a plastic bucket.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed at her.

"I'm trying to catch the snake!" She responded.

"But what about JAZ?! Look at his arm!"

"He wants me to catch the snake, that's why he's upset!"

Jaz nodded, "I almost had it!"

I explained (in less than calm or understanding language) that I thought cleaning the fang-shaped wound on our child's arm was probably more important than trying to capture the evil snake that bit him. But my words fell on the deaf ears of a snake-lover, who succeeded in capturing the snake before bringing Jaz inside to seriously disenfect his snake bite. I returned to the barn, and it wasn't until that evening that I called Katie and had her google "garter snake bite" for me to make sure that we shouldn't have rushed Jaz to the hospital (note to parents: never google anything like this on your own. You need to have someone else do it for you and screen out any potentially horrifying results). Luckily, it seemed that even Dr. Google agreed with Lena's assessment that Jaz would be perfectly fine.

He proudly showed his fang-bite scabs to anyone and everyone over the coming week, but I never took a picture of them because I was trying to erase the event from my memory and certainly didn't want it preserved in my iphoto library for the rest of eternity. Zeben, however, was the most fascinated, and started trying to show anyone and everyone his imaginary snake-bite scar too (located on his arm in the same place as Jaz's). "Jaz got bitten by a snake. I got bitten by a snake too," I'd hear him say. Then, he discovered the handmade, stuffed snake in his nursery school classroom, and started carrying it around everywhere with him while he was at school. One day he was in tears about having to leave the snake behind at the end of the morning, and I told him that I would make him one just like it when we got home.

Zeben with "Snakey Rainbow." Snakey Rainbow has become his constant companion,
and has even (sadly, as far as I'm concerned), replaced his
beloved lavender-stuffed Zebra as his top non-human security object.

And that is how the "Make A Snake" factory came to be. I made Zeben's snake while Luke, Jaz, Zeb and Araela all crowded around in awe. They all insisted that I make them each a snake next. And since the whole process was quite easy (only taking about 20-30 minutes per snake), I happily obliged. I even got my sister, Jes, in on the snake-making action.

Jes sewing a snake with the exceptionally
adorable Ezra on her back.

After making a snake for each of my own kids, I decided they would make the perfect birthday gift for Jaz's best pal, and his younger siblings (since, if anyone was ever to give one of my children a gift, it would probably work out best for each of my children to get something, and because we were bringing all 3 of our kids to the party, bringing 3 gifts seemed especially fitting).

Birthday Party Snakes for Auden, Calvin and Isadora

So I made 3 more snakes, and then I thought that maybe I ought to put together a bit of a tutorial in case any of you want to make a snake (or 6). It's quite fun.

Step One: Make a pattern. I used some cardstock so that it would be a bit stiff, but anything (fabric, regular paper, cardboard, etc.) will do. Draw out a snake shape, keeping in mind that you want to leave at least 1/4" seam allowance on all sides (you can either include this 1/4" in your pattern, or leave that much space when cutting around the pattern piece).

Step Two: Pick a fabric for the top and the bottom of the snake.
I think it looks best to have them be contrasting.
Lay one fabric on top of the other, and iron them
before you pin your pattern through both layers.

Step Three: Cut out the fabric.

the top and the bottom of the snake

Step Four: Cut out a snake tongue from a piece of felt.
Lay the top-of-the-snake fabric right-side up,
and place the tongue on top of it, with the tip of the tongue facing the tail.

Step Five: Put the belly-of-the-snake fabric right-side down
on top of the tongue and pin all around.

Step Six: Straight stitch around the whole snake,
leaving a one-inch opening at the tip of the tail.

Step Seven: Zig zag stich in your 1/4" seam allowance
for extra strength and protection against leakage.

straight stitched and zig-zagged

Step Eight: Turn the snake right side out.
Appreciate how cute and deflated it looks.

Step Nine: Make a funnel out of paper and tape,
and stick it in the rear-end of your snake.
This is a good time to include your helpers, if you have any.

Jaz dumping the lentils inside the body of the snake

Step Ten: Fill the snake with whatever type of stuffing you prefer.
I like to use green lentils.

Important note: don't forget that you haven't sewn the bum of your snake shut yet, and turn the snake upside down, spilling lentils all over the floor like my sister did.

lentils spilled all over the floor!

Step Eleven: Sew the tail shut.

Step 12: Add some button eyes,
and your snake is complete!


Step 13: Appreciate your children appreciating something
that you made with your very own hands.

Enjoy!