Chickadee Winter Wall Decor by Diane

Hello friends and Happy 2014' to you all!

I love the New Year. It's fresh, new and for some,  January is kind of a relaxing month.
 So, the other day, I was taking advantage of that relaxation all cuddled up on the couch, snug as a bug wrapped in a throw reading my favorite magazine, I happened to glance up and thought, " my that wreath just looks so bare ". Well, by golly I had to fix that, right?

With just a few supplies around the craft room and my Creative Paperclay® This Art piece was created and it fixed that bare wreath right up.

My inspiration; I love Chickadees...

I gathered some supplies.
1, 8" cardboard cake circle
Creative Paperclay
Acrylic paint- burnt Umber, Folkart Cobalt Blue,Folkart White, Folk Art Linen, Folk Art Silver Sterling, black.
A small branch or twig from your yard.
A small plastic snowflake ( for stamping ).
Bird stencil ( below ).
scissors
Xacto knife
paint brushes
Sculpting tools.
rolling pin.
Sealer.
Saran wrap.
Small bowl water.
Paper towel.

Please note that by clicking on any of these images, will enlarge the pic and give you a larger reference.

1. Very Lightly moisten the cake board with water. I dampen a paper towel and wipe the board.

2. Put a ball of clay onto the board and press out just a little, then place a piece of saran wrap over the clay and roll out to the edge of the cake circle.

3. With a damp finger pull your clay over the edge and just over to the back side of the board. If the clay is not sticking, a dab of white glue on the board will do the trick.

4.  On the clay covered cake board use your ball sculpting tool or the end of a pencil and press in a few random dots.

5. Cut out your bird stencil.

6. Position your branch on the circle. I placed the bird stencil on the circle to to help in the branch placement. When you know where you want to place your branch, add a few drops of white glue to the backside  smearing it down the length of the branch. Now you can push the branch into the clay. With a toothpick create a few twigs coming from the branch and with the end of a  pen push in to create berries.

7. I then took my plastic snowflake and pressed it in creating a stamped effect.

8. Now I set my bird stencil aside. i rolled out a ball of clay 1/2" thick. I then laid the bird stencil on the clay and cut out the bird using a xacto knife.

9. Still using the xacto knife I created the lines of the chickadee's feathers as seen in the above pic. The xacto knife worked beautifully for this. By laying the knife at a flat angle you can make a quick undercut to the wings for depth.

10. Now move your bird  and place him on the branch remembering to moisten the clay with water, where your bird will be placed. Press gently. Create little feet by making 3 little snakes and form around the branch.  Now this  piece is ready to dry.

I let this piece air dry. As it dries it will curl up slightly. After the piece has dried slightly where a crust has formed, you can turn it over for an hour or so to help the curling. I wanted my circle to have a slight curl, to resemble a plate so I did not turn it to often. You will get the knack for it the more you work with the clay.

Painting your piece.

Now that your chickadee wall decor is dry you can begin painting.  You might choose to paint your piece in a different color scheme to best fit your decor.
I chose grays and blues for the background as it reminds me of the winter skies and blends well with my decor. This is the steps I took to paint mine.

1. Base coat entire piece with burnt Umber. Except for the branch.

2. Dry brush using Cobalt blue, except for the bird. Except for the branch.

3. Dry brush Bimini blue  in a random pattern. Except for the branch.

4. Mix burnt umber and cobalt blue together. If you add more brown it will take on a brown grat tone. if you add more blu it will take on a blue gray tone. you want a brown gray tone with a little white added. Now dry brush the entire piece including the bird. Except for the branch.

5. Again mix burnt umber and cobalt blue, except this time you want more blue to give it a blue gray. add more white this time for a light blue gray. dry brush your piece except for the bird and the branch.

6. Now i make a wash using metallic silver sterling. this should be quite thin.  paint over entire piece except 
.for the branch

7. With your white paint lightly paint the snowflakes  and dots.

8. Paint the berries red.

9. The head of the chickadee in pic # 1,  I painted burnt umber, the wings burnt umber & white mixed.
the tummy is Linen.

10. In pic 2 ( the lighting was bad on this pic) I painted the head black then thinned my paint and shaded in the crevices of the wings.

11. I added the white as you can see in pic 3.

12. The eyes are a white dot, then a brown dot, then black.

13. The beak and feet are linen.

14. I made a wash of cobalt blue and randomly went in and around the snowflakes for shadowing and depth. i also did this under the branch and on the outer edges of the circle.

15. finally, I heavily loaded my brush with white and randomly in a dabbing motion applied to the edge.

 I sprayed the piece with a sealer and placed it in my wreath.

If you would like to hang the piece you could use a plate hanger or you could hot glue a simple picture hook to the back.

Feel free to save and print this image for your stencil. at 45%

Thanks so much for visiting today. I hope this tutorial has inspired you to play in the Creative Paperclay®.
~Diane
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