This is the best procedure to form bodies using 1" poultry fencing or chicken wire, hence the name.  When this wire is covered with burlap/Monster Mud or other "skins", they become semi-rigid.  The body is built in sections and wired together with both 24 guage wire and the edges of the cut chicken wire.  Accurate body size is achieved by comparing the sections you form with your own body size.  Using a ratio or percentage of your body measurements will maintain proper proportions for larger or smaller prop bodies.

CAUTION:  All chicken wire can cut.  Use appropriate personal protective gear when working with this material.  Needlenose pliers can be of great help for forming and wiring chicken wire.

Start by cutting and forming the torso section.  Measure around the chest area and add 4" for overlap.  This will be formed into a circle as seen in the photo below.  Using 36" wide chicken wire will work the best for the torso/hip section to decrease cutting and measuring tasks.

Next are the legs and arms.  Measure the thigh at the crotch line and add 4" for overlap.  Measure at the knee and at the ankle and record these numbers.  Cut the appropriate length for each leg and form a tube with the wire.  Only the top (crotch line) will be wired together.  At the knee location, form the leg into a conical shape from the top of the thigh to the knee.  Wire this section.  Do the same with the next section to the ankle.  Remember that the calf of the leg is larger than the ankle so make sure you 'squeeze' the wire into the proper shape.  The legs should be cut to the length of the leg plus 4" which will allow for the overlap into the hip/torso section.  Insert the tops of the legs about 4" into the bottom of the hip/torso and wire them in.

The arms should be measured from the side of the neck down the shoulder and arm to the first joint of the thumb.  This allows for you to form the shoulder and arm as one unit.  For the arms, you need to cut one end of your arm section tube at about a 45 degree angle, starting six inches from the end.  This will allow your arms to lie "flat" against the side of the body as they should.  It looks like this:

x
x x
x  x
x   x
x    x
x    x
x    x
x    x
x    x
x    x
xxxx

 Put that angled side against the side of your torso.  The arms will be in a natural state against the sides of the torso.  Bend the top of the arms to form shoulders and wire this to the torso.    Hands and feet can be made of chicken wire but with the plethora of handmaking ideas, I will not include that portion.  The picture shown below shows what happens when the arms are NOT formed correctly and they stick out from the body.  If you want the arms to be in a position other than against the body, do not angle the arms as described above.

The above body is in a rough state and this is the time for the creative mind to take over.  Chicken wire can be bent, formed, crushed, squeezed and cut into any shape you wish it to be.  The picture below shows how the form can be 'sculpted' into a crouched figure.  It is your "body", make it how you want it!!!!