A New Bird!

Here's a series of photos of a new bird sculpture I recently made for my wife. The bird is sand-cast using a mixture of fine sand, cement and perlite. The bird's form is initially scooped/"carved" out of the damp, compacted sand. Next, water is added to the mixture of sand-cement-perlite and the resulting slurry is gently poured into the prepared mold. The mix should be stiff enough to build up raised areas of relief that can be carved away the next day. Once the bird has hardened up overnight the sculpture can be carved and refined with a variety of tools. I like to use rasp-files, Shurform pocket-planes, old chisels, paint-scrapers, etc.  The sculpture needs to be dried for two to three weeks to allow the cement to cure and all water to evaporate. Next, the from can be primed using an exterior grade primer paint. Then, the color begins. I use a variety of paints, mostly acrylic enamels that come in liquid form. They need to be exterior grade also to hold up to  harsh outdoor conditions.

A New Birdhouse. And birds inside!! I swear!

We cut down most of a big holly tree (a clump with several large trunks) in our backyard but left one trunk so we could put a birdhouse on it...and here it is, finally. I used scraps of wood from our studio, ceramic tile mosaic for the front and a recycled roof from another old birdhouse. Left-over paint was also used and in no time birds were occupying the new place. As the house is pretty large (to visually fit the size of the trunk) I built a smaller walled off "room" inside the house so the birds would have a better nest building space. The size of the opening to the house helps determine what type of bird will be attracted to the house. Wrens and smaller birds go for holes around 1 1/4" to 1 3/8".

New Horsehair Raku Pots!

Here's three new Horsehair Raku vases! ...and check out the colors in the background from our garden. A nice Azalea in the upper-right corner!