Birds on the Brain

I've got birds on the brain this week.

Must be a longing for Spring.

I made this one with a mask.

The brilliant adjustable wing design is my sweet Dylan's doing, clever man. The mask started as a plastic yogurt container. Then I made an armature with aluminum foil and paper mache'd the whole thing with paper towels and white glue. I like the single-ply cheap brown paper towels (the ones they have in public schools) best for this. I soak the strips of towels in water first, then paint them with white glue and build up 3 or 4 overlapping layers. After that was dry (with a little help from the radiator), I evened everything out with paper clay. Then sculpted the eyes and stuff. The little "feathers" peeking out are made with cotton batting.

For more pictures of her you can click here.

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Remember that conjoined pair from last week?

Well I liked them so much I had to make a lino block out of them. Haven't done one of those since I was a kid (which was longer ago than it feels). I actually made three blocks, one for the conjoined cuteness, and one for each arm.

I printed it on fabric and made a little softie. Aren't they sweet? I think they need something to hold though. That'll be a project for next week.

I had so much fun playing with the carving tools,

that I made another one too--

A bird (of course) with a button-jointed wing.

How have you stepped outta the box lately?