A little birdie

 nother offering from my more recent bird pictures:

Experiments

I've been having a little play around with clay and thought I might share one of the experiments. This is a ceramic tile at around A4 size made out of impressed, glazed and fired clay on which I then experimented with image transfer for the blue pattern and the bird using acrylic matte medium

Chicken

hicken!

It's been a while since I put up any of my artwork so I started to put some up the other day and then after a conversation with a friend I was promted to post this one.

It's a mixed media piece and photo's don't really demonstrate the surfaces involved, lots of paint, print, acrylic medium etc on a gesso ground.

In Flight

his little bird caught my eye in my studio and I thought I'd share him with you:

Magpie Chart

f you would like to have a go at the Magpie Wrist-ees from my recent swap package you will need the original Robin pattern by Tiny Owl Knits.

The chart here is the one that I made up for the knit, with the eye made from a french knot and the beak from a few satin stitches. At the last moment I added a couple of lines of stitching to outline the bird, but you could leave those out. I stuck to the original pattern for the nest, just adding some brown flecks to the eggs and  then stitching on an assortment of odd beads, ribbons, small buttons etc for the nest.

To print off the chart at a larger scale click on it to enlarge before printing.

Menagerie of Animals Knit Love Swap

So, the parcel was sent, and ended up with i-make a keen crafter so here's what I included:

This felted owl pincushion wristband, where I followed the pattern up to the eyes which I enlarged with discs of felt.

and these are an adaptation of Tiny Owl's 'Sweet Robin Wrist-ees' which I decided to adapt a little to make a magpie and nest complete with trinkets: beads, buttons, ribbons and a dangley bit from a broken necklace. I also included the channel island cast on which Alice introduced to us in last year's Knit Love Club and seemed appropriate as these were off to Guernsey.

Evidently magpie's love to collect shiny things and have a song that's described as a 'chatter' which just seemed right somehow for my swapee who has a blog and podcast about a whole range of gorgeous crafting activities.

The bought elements were packed up alongside the made and it has all been posted off and my fingers were crossed that I'd picked well.

Phew, she was very pleased with the package! Hurrah!

Recyled Christmas Birds

These were my first go for the Advent Challenge. Three little birds made from an abandoned cardigan back that I was making, felted in the washing machine and left over scraps from my material and button box. They were not quite Christmas Robins, not quite Three French Hens:

Amazingly they won, which was such a lovely start to the New Year.

Another Little Bird and a Secret

This is another little bird that I made recently, the obsession  seems to continue. It sits nicely in the hand, rather like a large pebble; perhaps it's a 'worry bird'?

I've been busy sorting out my secret swap package for the Ravelry Knit Love 2010 summer swap. I've been doing all sorts of making which I will share later, once this box in the safe hands of the recipient at the end of July when I meet up with her during Knit Nation (with any luck and the plan of some frantic texting).

Another Little Bird

This is one of my mixed media pieces. I'm rather disappointed that you can't see the surfaces in a photograph, it's a lot richer in the flesh. At some point I'll try and explain the way I work, but this is a mix of processes including collage, paint and silkscreen print. It's part of a little group of images that I'm making, but this is the first to emerge to a near finished state.

Tweet!

I seem to have a growing obsession with birds, not particular birds, but little creatures like these. This little earthernware one sits nicely in the hand and emerged from a quick play around with the clay.