As I begin work on a new commission bracelet destined for down under, titled Australian Moons, I'm back to sculpting tiny birds directly into silver.
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| Northern Saw Wet Owl from wmburkhardt.tubmlr.com |
After years of practice, I can make plenty of generic birds with no guidelines. But sometimes I want a bird of a particular type or in a specific pose, as I plan for how the pieces will be combined with branches and leaves on the surface of the jewelry. In that case I usually search online for an image that captures my vision. The adorable northern saw-whet owl shown above was taken from a Pinterest board provided by the client.
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| polymer and silver clay versions of the saw whet owl |
If I've been sculpting a fair bit recently, I can usually work directly from the photo into silver clay. If it's been some time since I worked on birds, or if it's a new bird I haven't done before, I may need to practice a bit. To find the best way to do the simplified model in clay, I may work in polymer in a larger scale before moving to silver. This lets me work without worrying about clay drying, which is the biggest working issue with silver clay. I can smooth and refine and work out the steps needed to get the look with maximum impact using minimum marks and available tools.
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| blue fairy wren |
Another request for this bracelet was a blue fairy wren, which I remember being totally captivated by on my visits to Australia.
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| silver clay fairy wren |
The first version of this wren wasn't fat enough, but this wren has been celebrating Thanksgiving far too much.
Also in today's collection headed for the kiln after some refinement: a rufous hummingbird and a green headed tanager. Hopefully I'll have enough birds to start working on the treetop scene layout tomorrow.
