SCULPTED BIRDS TUTORIAL

The much awaiting and highly anticipated “Birds of a Feather” book by Christi Friesen has begun.  (*Three Cheers for Christi’s awesome book*).  I think I mentioned in my last post, thought it always bears repeating, that this is my favorite Christi Friesen book.  Perhaps it’s because I really enjoy making birds, or maybe it’s because I enjoy feeding birds, or maybe it’s because my favorite food is chicken?!?! Whatever the reason, I am so excited to kick off this month with Christi’s awesome “Lil’ Blob Birds” from her book.  These are so addicting … I made 6 the first sitting and about a dozen in the next.  They are fun!  So get your clay out, grab a cup of coffee, and let’s get started!

Materials:

• Pearl Premo! polymer clay
• Scrap Clay
• Seed Beads or Gemstone Beads
• Head Pins or Wire
• Polymer Clay Oven

Making Your Birds:

What I’ve Done Different:

Christi shows beautiful ivory and pearl colored birds in her book.  But me, I like color and usually lots of it.  So … I’ve transformed Christi’s ‘Lil’ Blob Birds’ into ‘Lil’ Colorful Blob Birds.’  You can choose to make your own color combinations, or make them in white-ish color blends just like Christi’s book.  The choice is yours.

I have also made all my birds 2 sided and not just one sided.  Why?  Because I like to be able to “do something” with what I create and since I rarely know what I will “do” with something, it’s best to be prepared and have two sides to everything … don’t you think?  That being said, feel free to make your birds however you’d like.

• Depending on how many birdies you want, grab “hunks” of pearl clay and condition.
• Roll pearl polymer clay hunks into balls.
• Add scrap clay to each beautiful pearl lump of clay.
• Marble (but not completely) those pearl balls and scrap clay.
  • NOTE: I did not make sure my cane ends slices were “fresh” when they leave ‘gobs’ of clay in places it makes for a very unique look.
• When you have multiple colored balls, it’s time to begin making some cute little birdies.

Basic Bird Body

Please note that I make my birds backward from the way Christi suggests … maybe I’m a backward person, I don’t know.  But honestly, it’s way too hard for me to start with a head and them make a tail … like I said, I must be backward.

• Take one of those awesome pearl blends that you made and cut a portion off (big enough for two wings & a ‘blobber’ – which is a technical term – on your bird)
• Now roll again into a ball and gently pull out a “tail” of your bird
• Then gently pull out a “head” section of your bird.
• Using your thumb and index finger, pull a pointy beak out from your bird.
• NOTE: If your bird beak gets too “pointy” just smoosh it back in a little bit.
• Before you go onto the next step, place your finger in the small of the birds back and give a gently “push” to create a flat bottom so your bird will stand.

Make Your Bird Wings:

• From the little piece you cut off, take a tiny amount off (again, for the ‘blobber’) and set aside.  Then take the remaining amount and divide it in half.
• Create two rounds circles.
• Roll each circle into a tear drop.
• Gently smoosh tear drops flat.
  • BONUS: Press the flattened teardrops onto a texture stamp or tile to add a little pizazz to your wings.
• Now bend a piece of wire to make a ‘blobber.’
• Take that tiny piece of clay and roll it into a tear drop.
• Insert the wire into the teardrop.
• Insert the whole piece of wire (with ‘blobber’ attached) into the head of the bird.

Add the Details:

Your Lil’ Blob Bird can have any number of details, but the ones that are the most important are of course the eyes & metallic bead accents.

• Choose the eyes for your bird.
• Your eyes can be glass “eyes”, seed beads, or gemstones. (I chose “E” Beads)
• Using an orangish colored mica powder (or chalk) add a bit to the “beak” of your bird
  • NOTE: I used Pearl Ex Super Bronze
• To Make Your bird into a “plant pokey” simply insert a head pin in the base, securing with liquid clay and bake!

Here’s a few examples of my finished bird projects for this week:

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Book 6: “Birds of a Feather”

Congratulations to the winner of Book 6: “Birds of a Feather!” Don’t forget that a few of the tutorials that are being done for the Friesen Project are being done from the book.  Support Christi (so she can write more awesome books for us) and go and purchase the PDF book here if you don’t have it already.

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The Friesen Project

The Friesen Project is done in conjunction with Christi Friesen. All tutorials are retaught here with her expressed permission. Please make sure to read about the project here, and get answers to the most common FAQS here.

See you next Friesen Friday,
Until then, Happy Claying,

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