Repurposed junk turkey No. 10

Hello and welcome to Wisconsin Magpie, where one man’s trash is another woman’s repurposed junk turkey.

I made my first junk turkey four years ago, using vintage kitchenware as parts, and every fall since then I’ve felt the need to enlarge my flock.

Here’s my latest addition:

Repurposed junk turkey

Of the 10 turkeys I’ve made so far, I think he was the easiest to put together, as he has just five main components.

Parts for Repurposed Junk Turkey No. 10

Here’s the junk I repurposed to make this guy:

Parts for repurposed junk turkey
  • Large coffee basket
  • Pie tin
  • Vintage juicer
  • Sprinkler head
  • Round pan with raised vents*

*Is this a pan? I found it in the pots and pans section at a thrift store, so I’m guessing it is, but I’m not sure what those raised vents would be for. If you have any insights, please share in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Attaching the sprinkler to the coffee basket

The first thing I did when making this turkey was to attach the coffee basket (which was going to be the turkey’s breast) to the sprinkler head (which was going to be his feet).

Drilling a hole into a coffee basket that will become part of a repurposed junk turkey

To do that, I drilled a hole into the bottom of the coffee basket …

Hole drilled into coffee basket/turkey breast

… and then ran a short bolt through the hole and screwed it into a preexisting hole at the top of the sprinkler head.

back side of junk turkey

After four years in the junk turkey making business, I feel qualified to say sprinkler heads make the best bases. They look like feet (at least as much as any metal piece of junk can) while being low to the ground and extremely stable. And nobody wants an unstable junk turkey.

Adding the turkey’s head

After I had the feet attached to the body, I ran a long bolt through a hole in the bottom of the juicer (which was going to be the turkey’s head and neck).

putting a bolt through a hole in a vintage juicer that will become the head of a turkey assembled out of junk

Then I ran the bolt through the coffee basket …

attaching the turkey's head to its body

… and screwed a nut onto the bolt to hold the pieces together.

securing the turkey's head to its body with a nut

Here’s what my turkey looked like from the back at this point:

back view of repurposed junk turkey

Time for the tail feathers

To add the tail feathers to the body, I drilled a hole through the round pan …

drilling a hole through a pan that will become turkey's tail feathers

.. and slid the pan onto the same bolt that was running through the turkey’s head and breast, securing it in place with another nut.

turkey's tail feathers pan

To cover the end of the bolt sticking out of the back of the pan, I added a pie tin.

attaching a pie tin to a junk turkey assemblage

I attached the pie tin to the pan with a few short bolts around the perimeter of both pieces.

junk turkey before eyes have been added

Here’s the profile view of my almost completed turkey:

profile of repurposed junk turkey

Repurposed junk turkey eyes

All my turkey needed now was eyes, so I rummaged through my supply of beads and hardware to see what I had that would work. I decided to use some small wooden beads as eyeballs and center them inside a couple of silver grommets.

I painted the beads white on the outside and black inside the hole.

beads and grommets that will be used for the turkey's eyes

Then I glued the beads inside the grommets.

beads painted white and glued inside the grommets

Finally, I glued the grommets to the inside of the juicer.

eyes glued onto the turkey's face

Ta da: Turkey No. 10

And here he is in his finished form: Repurposed Junk Turkey No. 10.

repurposed junk turkey

If your interested in reading about turkeys 1-9 (or about the rare repurposed junk rabbit), check them out here.

I already have turkey No. 11 in the works, so expect to see him making a blog appearance soon.

Let me know what you think of No. 10 in the comments. And if you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends on social media. I’m sure they’d much rather read about junk turkeys than politics. 😂 🤣

— Lisa

11 Replies to “Repurposed junk turkey No. 10”

  1. So creative and cute. You have a real knack for seeing the possibilities in things the rest of us (or at least me) don’t have. But you have me thinking now.

  2. This is the best project I have seen in a very long time. Excellent. Fun. Easy. Imaginative. You are a genius !! I am headed into my garage to find pieces of stuff n things to compile a turkey of my own. Thank you !!

    1. I just read your comment aloud to my husband. He takes issue with the “genius” part of it, but I told him he just wasn’t smart enough to understand. 🤣 😂 Anyhoo, thanks for the kind words, and good luck finding turkey parts!

  3. Your turkey is so fun and unique! I love it! I featured your terrific turkey at this week’s Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make Link Party!

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