Pretty Red Bird

The red bird is finished. What I had in mind when I started totally changed and this sassy little guy has appeared. From the time I cut out the body and began to make the wings, then the feet, and embroider on the body, he took on a life of his own.

 

I am in awe of Salley Mavor’s work. If you have never seen her fabric reliefs or her children’s books then you are in for a treat, especially if you like stitching and embroidery! I have several of her books and love looking at them and reading her tutorials. You can check out her blog/work with this link www.weefolkstudio.com  She does not work in three dimension like I do but, I wanted to see if some of her techniques could be adapted to my work. The red bird was great to try those on.

Some of those techniques included wrapping wire to create his feet, stitching wire into his tail to give stability and posing, stitching over the body and making his beak by whipping thread over a piece of stuffed wool.

Wrapped wire

My hand-dyed wool fabric helped to give the bird different shades of red along with the embroidery. 

I only meant to make a simple Cardinal for my bird Christmas tree but I’m very pleased about where this little bird is leading me. The nest was not needed after all, and the wreath is removable, so I can leave him out all year.

I think my brain has gone to the birds.

Lately I have had dreams of crows and owls!