Yes, I said herons, not dragons like Khaleesi in Game of
Thrones. Nothing against dragons, it’s just that I like herons a whole lot more
and they’re easy to spot in southern Ontario. I had a great time this spring, creating
a couple of four foot high herons using Powertex.
Because of the size, I needed some help in creating the
armature and enlisted the services of my handy husband. He bolted two long rods
into the base (a lovely piece of wood, that I had sanded and treated with
varethane) and attached them to four lengths of coat hanger wire, molded to
form the shape of the heron’s body. The attachment was the tricky part because
he created a wooden ‘T’ in the inside of the heron’s body.
After the wire armature was secure, I began the process of
filling it with balls of foil and then wrapping foil to cover the wire. Yes, I
used a lot of aluminum foil and masking tape to shape the herons.
When the aluminum sculpting was complete, I began the
process of wrapping the bird with strips of fabric coated with transparent Powertex
(much like I would with a small lady figurine). Because of the size of the
heron, I had to do this in stages, using
gravity by positioning the heron in various poses. When the heron was completely
covered with fabric, I used small, 4-8 inch strips of fabric to create the
feathers, again soaking them in transparent powertex and placing then on the
sides (wings) and neck of the heron. This was the fun part where I experimented
lovely sculpture
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