Sunday, February 22, 2009

for craft hatch

I will be selling bird head brooches mounted on thin log rounds. These will be a series of australian wrens:
Mallee emuwren (stipitrus mallee), Superb fairy wren (Malurus cyaneus), Purple-backed wren (Malurus assimilis), Lavender-flanked wren (Malurus dulcis), Lilac-crowned wren (Malurus coronatus), Grey grassren (Amytornis barbatus), Lovely wren (Malurus amabilis)

Yesterday I made this head while watching a dodgy saturday afternoon tv movie.
It is a lilac crowned wren (malurus Coronatus). It is Nuno felt, made using alpaca fleece, hand stitched with bright purple thread.

The cut rounds are from a wattle tree which came down in a storm. As the timber is still green, I'm seasoning it in the oven.Unfortunately for one batch I had the temperature up too high and split most of the rounds. Because of that, I know 50-80 degrees is a good range to work in. After reducing the moisture content, these will be sanded, shellaced and varnished.

I anticipate the brooches to look simliar to the above picture, only the log rounds will be varnished.