Bronze Metal Clay Weekend Workshop

Altered Bird

I finally finished my little altered bird project from our play date a  few weeks ago.  i am happy to share him here on the blogsphere.

I started with a little resin bird i picked up at Anthropologie a few years back on clearance.  They had similar birds all done up steam punk style for like $250!!  I thought  - well i could do that myself.  I certainly have plenty to doodads and glue.

Birds by Jim Mullanium

Here was the inspiration birds like the ones i saw  at Anthropologie - they are by this company Mullaniumbyjimandtori.  They only sell wholesale - no prices on the website. You can also google steampunk birds to see many more like this!

Bird by Julie Haymaker

My friend S took a class at Art Unraveled with Julie Haymaker Thompson called Birds on Wheels and made one similar this last summer with a key on the back. They started with a kit that included an unpainted bird.

 My friend K picked up some unpainted wood wheels at Michaels and along with some dowels - we had our axel.  Then it was just a matter of choosing which metal cogs and gears to use to steampunk him up!  

Luckily the Michaels beading section had lots to choose from.  The little beanie cap was from a bracelet.  I used some heavy duty upholstery tacks to attach the wings and tail.

I used some metal ruler tapes i had purchased at Art is you to make "feathers".  But added some real peacock feathers for colour and texture.  At this point i spent some time thinking about what to do next.

First step - paint.  The red and cream body colour did not work great with the peacock colours.  I find painting birds super easy.  just keep adding feather-y strokes in assorted colours and you cannot go wrong.  A bit of lighter paint for the chest and face and there you have it.

Then the big question to bling or not to bling?  Most steam punk things are metallic, but not so glittery.  I guess I'll live with him a while and see what happens...!

Rust!

Ok - who knew you could actually manufacture your very own rusty things? Well you can and it's EASY! Following the instructions from Cloth Paper Scissors, the article written by Leslie Riley, my husband made some super fab rusty things for me this week.

Step 1 - select some brand new or old metal things to rust. Some will work better than others i imagine. What you want is as much iron as possible - ie not stainless steel.

Step 2 - find a suitable container. Like a large glass jar or a bucket. Do not use your favorite etched glass pitcher like my husband did here.

Step 3 - create the potion. Two parts bleach (like Clorox) and one part vinegar. Do this outside for the fumes and be careful with the bleach - you know, like it will bleach your clothes if you spill it on you. Better yet - get your husband to do this for you while you are out of the house. Remind him not to use favorite pitcher.

Step 4 - insert metal things. Adding a rusty or partially rusty item apparently makes this go faster. We threw in some toilet seat bolts we found in the garage that had a bit of rust.

Step 5 - wait 24 hours. Remove rusty things to some newspapers to dry. Husband used BBQ tongs. Do not rinse. We worked on the concrete patio - if you use a table top - protect it with plastic and paper.

Step 6 - since we have the icky rusy solution - why add more metal things and do another batch?

Step 7 - argue with husband over ruined favorite etched glass pitcher. Husband will say, "if it was so special why has it been sitting out here on the deck all winter?"

You know how that is, you have a beautiful bouquet of flowers that sit on the dining room table until the flowers are dead and a toxic green sludge has formed in the pitcher, so you carefully move it outside and promptly ignore it.

Step 8 - agree with husband and move on.....

So some notes about the whole process:

Using the rusty solution for a second batch? Not nearly as successful as the first batch - see here the results. Compared to the first batch - there is just a hint of rust. The first batch was so successful - my husband was reminded of the relics from the Titanic on the ocean floor. I guess there must be an intial chemical reaction between the bleach and the vinegar that gets the rusting started that you don't get with the second batch.

So off to the store for more bleach and vinegar to do the rest properly. We scoured the garage for random metal things that might look cool attached as limbs on the book doll bodies. Like a spring, some hinges and some large discs. See previous post HERE that explains what all this rusty stuff is for.

(So yeah - i finally figured out how to create a link to a nother page or site - so much cleaner than the whole URL spelled out!)

Happy Rusting!