Tackling the star of the show Fawkes the Phoenix. My first attempt is nice, but not exactly what I'm looking for. The first step is to make a wire armature with copper wire. The feet and legs took me a long time to get right. Then I added more wire to form the body. Looks a little like a lizard or dinosaur!
Wool felting seemed like the way to go. Maybe the feathers can be stuck in the felt with a little glue.
the legs and feet are wrapped with some thin wool and a little glue on the wire helps.
Wings were made separately with a felting needle and wool, then attached to the body.
The feathers I had on hand were very fluffy. The ends of the feathers didn't really stick in the felt. Glue and patience helps. A little bit of yellow feather was used as well. The beak is felted and I don't like the look of it.
Not bad for a first attempt. On to the www for some more help. I joined a group on facebook called trash to treasure for miniatures and a lovely lady gave me advice as she made some birds with clay and feathers which I thought looked much better and quite realistic. So here is my 2nd attempt:
Still using copper wire, an armature is made.
Polymer clay is wrapped around the wire. The colour doesn't really matter, it will be painted and feathers will be glued on it after it is baked and cooled.
the little wing buds on the back just isn't enough.
View from the back.
Hope you enjoyed and this gives you inspiration! Stay tuned for the completed project photos in the future.
In the interest of making an authentic bird, I decided to first cover my Phoenix in fluffy feathers with MIGHTY GEMIT Embellishing Adhesive. Then cut them close to the body.
In the interest of making an authentic bird, I decided to first cover my Phoenix in fluffy feathers with MIGHTY GEMIT Embellishing Adhesive. Then cut them close to the body.
Adding tail feathers. They look so pretty and lie just like they grew there naturally.
Then apply regular feathers to the "down" This does waste a lot of the original feather. Thank goodness for the dollar store!
On the ends of the feathers it is a little white, so acrylic paint is used on them. Although a marker could have worked.
Adding the feathers to the head. Was hoping they would droop down but they didn't.
So I hope you enjoyed my 2nd attempt at making a miniature Fawkes the Phoenix.
Of course, it wasn't JUST right, so here is the finished 3rd attempt. For this one, I used only the tips of the feathers. This made it more sleaker and natural. This did take more feathers, though.
On the bird stand he does look a little big, but I think it will work.
Will have to put some weight on the bottom of the stand so it won't fall over!
Have a great day!
