Clay Birdies WIP

I cooked these little polymer clay birds this morning to be made into a mobile after I've painted them with acrylics. I'll show you the end result tomorrow.
The biggest one is 3 1/2 inches long from beak to tail.

Bird Ornament Tutorial

1- You can use oven baking polymer clay or DAS air drying clay to make the birdie. I used a little bit of FIMO clay I had left over from another project.

2-Knead the clay until it's soft and malleable.

3-Shape the clay into a round ball.

4-Turn the ball into a drop shape.

5- With the tips of your fingers pinch the chunky part of the drop
until you form the head of the bird.

6-Pinch the head of the birdie to form a beak
and flatten the pointy tip to make the tail.

7- Poke a hole through the back of the bird straight down until you see the tip of the toothpick in the bottom. This is where you'll thread the bird to hang as an ornament.

8- Poke the hole from the bottom with the toothpick to make a clean orifice.

9-Bake according to directions in the package or air dry if you used DAS.

10- The birdie is now ready to be painted! Use the toothpick to hold the bird while you paint it with acrylics.

11-Decorate the wings of the bird with snowflakes if you want a winter theme.
I used a piece of foam board to hold the bird in place and make it easier to paint.

12-Finish off all the details like the beak and the eyes and thread it with the string of your choice. I added a little wood felted bead I had laying around, but you can also use buttons or any kind of beads.

Now go and hang that cute birdie on your tree! :)

Little Birdie

I ended up doing an entirely different
birdie for my old rusty cage.

This one was made with linen & a piece
of Tana Lawn Liberty print,
stuffed with polyfill.

I painted the birdie with fabric paint
using my watercolor round brushes.
I used two different greens
& white for the details.

& made him a little polymer clay beak.

All I need to do now is figure out a way
to secure him to the perch of the cage.
I'll show you when he's living in his new home.

Note:
For those of you who asked,
the fabric paint I used is called
Pebeo Setacolor

More Christmassy goodness

Green button wreath inspired
by this loveliness by Pixiegenne

My son Daniel and I made a snow globe this week. I had the perfect jar!
The little house inside is a polymer clay house I made
based on a beautiful drawing made by my son Israel when he was 4.

You can fin instructions on how to make a snow globe here.

I made this embroidered felt gingerbread family
as a gift for my friend Mariana that makes
the BEST gingerbread cookies ever!

WIP New mobile

Pieces for a new mobile I'm working on
waiting to be baked.

The pieces are hand sculpted from white polymer clay
and will be very similar to the mobile
I made last year (right photo).

Artful Birds

Margie & I had a very birdie afternoon yesterday.
We both used the wren pattern from Abigail Glassenberg's new book
"The Artful Bird" published by Interweave.
I recycled my 2010 Linea Carta linen calendar to make my birdie.
Margie used a piece of turquoise cotton I had previously stamped
with one of my hand carved bird stamps and made the beaks with polymer clay.
We gave each of them our own twist & when they saw each other
they immediately fell in love ♥

Done!

Polymer clay pieces with hemp and a twig I found in my backyard.

Observe

I'm trying to replicate
these porcelain beauties by Coe & Waito
as an exercise of observation.

I'm making this one with white Polymer Clay.
I'll show it to you once it's done...

Happy month of March!