10-19-2008
The tedious process of cutting, shaping and attaching the feathers continues... You can see that after most every weld, I take the die-grinder and touch-up the weld area; making sure that there are no high spots that would cause the next overlapping feather to sit too high. I also take this opportunity ] to eliminate any imperfections on each piece of metal (e.g. rust, welding slag, tin snip marks, etc.).
The impressions I placed with the chisel upon the blacksmith's anvil can be clearly seen here on the copper tail feathers. Again, the goal was to lend a bit of character and texture to the copper tail feathers - not to make them appear exactly like a real bird feather. The 50 grit scratches created by the grinder suffice in providing just enough texture that I will not concern myself with trying to engrave or scribe additional markings in the feathers. Recall that this is welded sculpture and not an attempt to be precise - I leave the final rendition to the eyes of the beholder.
This photo illustrates how I weaved the longer wing tip feathers ( I am sure there is some other name for them, but I don't know what it is...) into the scheme things. I think I managed to establish a decent flow and integration
of the wings with the remainder of the body; at least, based upon the dozen or so reference photos, now lying burnt, torn and crumpled upon my welding table. I probably made the tail feathers a bit more ornate than need be, however,
my client did request a male Crane; therefore, I am embelishing things a bit to make certain that there will be no questions regarding gender - male birds almost always carry the most vibrant and distinct markings.
I am contemplating at this point, to patina the legs black. At this point; I have decided that this welded metal sculpture will represent a Sandhill Crane. Most every photo of Cranes I have viewed (Sandhill or other) have very dark (almost black) legs.
Since I am probably leaving the remainder of the metal sculpture in its natural state, a little addtional contrast added to the three different metals I have incorporated, should set them off nicely.