Hoorah!

I've finally sewn all my feathers!

Now all I need to do is do a little bit of seeding on his chest/back and sew him together! It's a bit exciting

 

#sewing #myna bird #feathers

The end is (sort of) in sight...

I've been sewing and sewing and sewing my feathers and dont really seem to be getting much further which is quite frustrating. I have to keep telling myself that it's the embroidery taking so long and once I've done the base colour there's all the highlight/shade to do which takes longer but after a few hours sewing (where you have started to smell something a bit funny which I can only assume is the machine overheating...) and you look no further on it's a bit disheartening. Oh well, I've gone 1 wing all done and am sort of, almost, nearly half way through the other one...

I have had to find ways of entertaining myself so the slowness this is progressing doesn't make me eat too much chocolate and I thought I'd share my smiles for today - this was as I looked out of my window when I was writing this and the 2 seagulls looked like they were stood on the edge of the window (I think the funny smell the sewing machine was giving off has gone to my brain a little bit...)

 And this was just a pretty sky - look how blue it is!

#feathers #myna bird #sewing #machine embroidery #seagulls #sunset

Feathers Galore...

I know, I've been very bad over easter and not done as much work as I should have on my studio modules. In my defense I spent a week on work experience with Poppy Treffry down in Cornwall which was loads of fun, everything in my house if beautifully folded now lol. I did really enjoy it and it did help everyone was slightly mad (but all the best people are) and lovely. I also had a sneaky holiday but I think my skin reflected the sunlight cos you can't tell. I did keep trying to do work after but there as a deadline for one of my lectures that got in the way but now that's all handed in and celebratory cake has been had I can concentrate on my bird. I should really name him or her, any suggestions?
I have done some work for it the last few days, I've drawn a couple of feathers and I've drawn out all the pieces for my bird but I regred doing that now cos there are a lot and it's a bit daunting...

#poppy treffry #work experience #drawing #feathers #myna bird

Myna Bird Wing

So the last week or so I've been chained up to a sewing maching and have sewn and sewn until I made a wing. It took a very very long time but I think it was worth it.
It started off with this...

And, after many hours of hard work, turned into this...

(inside of wing)

(outside of wing)

 (wing detail)

 (compared to the drawing I was working from)

I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt. It's not prefect, I need to make the feathers bigger so you can't see the calico where I sewed them together and stuff but I'm still quite impressed with myself. I think I deserve a hot chocolate and an episode of Vampire Diaries don't you?

#wing #embroidery #machine embroidery #myna bird #vampire diaries

... if you can't fly?

Busy day today!
I woke up and it was doing this outside my window...

... so I had to trek to college in my snow shoes with enough supplies to last the journey. I was just hoping it wouldn't end up joining the ranks of the Donner Party!

When I finally reached College I spent all day in the sewing room making a bird, the wings alone took about 4 hours. It looks pretty nifty though...

I'm so glad it's done! I think I want to do my final one like this, although I think I'll put a bit of wire in the wings to give them a bit more shape and will try not squish the feathers so much when I'm sewing it together lol
 
#bird # myna bird #what's the use of wings #donner party #prototype

Why do people cage the things they love the most?

The last few days I've been playing with making cages. One of them failed quite a lot - Lauren thought it was a Jellyfish - but I sewed some words on it which I quite liked...

 
It did get better after that, I made one that actually looked cage-like which is always an improvement. It would have to be a bit bigger for the bird to actually fit in it though...

Then, today, our lovely sewing technician lent me a book that told me a proper way of making cages and it worked quite well. It might've worked better if I'd used the wire when I was supposed to and my wire is a bit flimsy but it's still pretty nifty :)

 I think this is the cage I'm gonna use in my final product, I'll have to re size it cos it's quite big at the min but I'm still quite proud of it. It took sooooo long to make though 
 
#lion #myna bird #cage #what's the use of wings #wire #calico #water soluble

Lion

Had a fun day making this little lion. he does need some more deail on his face and I have forgotten to give him a tail and ears but apart from that I think it's not too bad. Bit of fur for the mane instead of Calico and there's a real life Simba :)

#lion #prototype #calico #simba #fabric