Bird on a Nest Inspiration Piece

Hello Creative Paperclay® fans, and welcome back.  As some of you may know, I really love birds.  I think they are cute little creatures and simply fascinate me.  So, I wanted to try to see if I could make a bird out of Creative Paperclay®.  Well, I am no sculptor, but I think I made a pretty good effort with this, and I can tell it is a bird and not some other strange blob unknown to man.   Just more proof that Creative Paperclay® is a fabulous product to work with and very easy to manipulate.

Supplies Used:

Creative Paperclay® modeling material

Large wooden spool (2" tall)

Fast Grab Tacky Glue (Aleene's)

Clay/Metal embossing mold 

Acrylic paint (Greenscape, Tahiti Blue, Straw. Coral Blush, Classic Green)

Distress ink (Vintage Photo, Dusty Concord)

Acrylic paint dabber (Lavender Sachet) (Ranger)

Gilder's Paste (Cream)(Baroque Art)

Directions:

I first rolled out a ball of CP® about the size of a golf ball, maybe a bit smaller.  You can always add or remove some, if necessary. 

 I made three more balls of CP® as shown in photo below, one for the head, two for the wings.  Next, I made the body shape, flattening from the top and bottom, and pinching one end to bring out the tail feathers portion.  I also flattened the sides a bit to attach the wings later.

Use a straight edge to make "feathers" in the bird's tail portion of the body.

Flatten two of the smaller balls with your fingers to form wings.  Pinch the ends to bring out to a point.  Keep these fairly flat while working on them.  Also, remember to mirror image them so they will  sit in the proper direction.  Otherwise, one will be backwards.  

Lay the wings on top of each other to check for size.

Use a needle tool or straight edge to make the "feathers" in the wings.  

For the head, pinch one end to bring out the beak portion and manipulate it until you like it.  Before it dries, I punched a tiny hole on either side for eyes, and drew a line between his beak for his "lips".  

Set all of your pieces aside to dry.  The body is rather thick and may take several days to dry completely, so plan ahead for this project.  

To determine the circumference of the wooden spool, simply wrap a piece of paper around the spool and mark where the paper meets, in this case it is 4".  This will be the length of CP® you  need to roll out.  

The height of the CP® is simply the inside measure of the spool between the top and bottom edges, about 1-5/8" in this case.  These measurements do not have to be precise now, because the CP® can be trimmed and manipulated as you work with it onto the spool.

Ink wooden spool edges with Vintage Photo.  This gives the wood a nice brown, aged effect.

Roll out a ball of CP® approximately 1/4" thick, wide enough and long enough to go around the spool.    I made a paper template to size to make it easier to see where to cut my CP®.  

Cut out around the template and dry fit it around the spool.  Here you can see I am a bit shy, so I gently rolled my piece a bit more just to stretch it in length only.

Ahhhh, just right.  Now I can use my fingers and a bit of water to smooth out those edges where the CP® meets.  

I spread if bit of tacky glue over the back of the CP® to make it stick to the wood while I work on it.

Next, I rolled the clay-covered spool over a border mold to get this wonderful design.  Just take your time and press the spool into the clay as you roll it.  

I used a plastic clay tool (use whatever you have) to refine the mold border edges that formed when I rolled the clay over it.

While the clay on the spool is drying, I painted my bird pieces with acrylic paints.  

Glue the bird's body parts together with the quick grab glue.  Set aside for the glue to dry.

Paint the molded images on the Paperclay®.  It is okay to go outside the lines because it will get covered up in the next step.  Allow paint to dry.

I used the lavender paint dabber to cover most of the outside of the spool, being careful not to color the flower images.  As you can see in the photo, this color is not strong enough to cover the dark colors underneath.

Using my finger to apply the Cream gilder's paste gave the coverage I needed and left a bit of the lavender color showing through.  

I further distress inked with Dusty Concord to bring back even more of the purple color and bring out that beautiful crackle effect.

Run a thin bead of gold pearl pen along the ridges made in the Paperclay®.

The bird nest is made from small 2" squares of natural burlap, pulling all of the threads apart and balling them up into a circle.  

When you get it shaped the way you like, glue it down to the top of the spool.

Add tiny black beads to the eyes and glue the bird on top of the burlap bird nest.

Voila!  Is that not cute?  I love my bird on a nest spool.  This is going to be an inspiration piece for me, and it will always take me to a happy place when I look at it.

 

I hope you have been inspired to try making your very own inspiration piece with Creative Paperclay®.   It is a fabulous product, and it accepts so many different mediums, which allows you, the artist, to try out all of them.  

Thanks for stopping by today, and please be sure to visit the online store and blog for more information on this wonderful product.  I would also love for you to visit my blog to see some of my other creations.

Have a wonderful, creative week!

Barbara