Now that TheRagingSloth has received this item in the Color in a Box swap, I’ll post more detail about it here. I present the Improbable Bird Lady:
(The quote is a charm from a Tom Holtz collection, which aside from a handful of wood screws, is the only thing I purchased for this project. Everything else was from my own craft supply stash.)
She is an automaton. When you turn the little crank clockwise, her wings flap and she appears to be flying. She was inspired by a Pinterest pin from wolfCat Workshop, and also by TheRagingSloth herself, since she appreciates stitched, artsy dolls. Her chosen color for the swap was purple, which was perfect because I had some purple batik fabric pieces that I got in a Craftster swap, years ago.
I also happened to have a piece of purple aluminum from a discarded beverage can (raided from the recycling bin of a former workplace and flattened and saved in my metal scrap box). Fittingly. it said “the PURPLE Edition” on it in large letters... I was so excited when I was shopping my stash for this swap and ran across it—so, so perfect! It became the decoration for the base.
The mechanism is made from wooden pieces from a vintage set of wood construction toys, and various wires (mainly coat hangers, but also some electrical wire and craft wire.) The handle is wood, painted purple. The piece of copper with a Celtic-looking pattern on the front looks like decoration, but it’s actually a necessary addition to shore up the wing wires.
By a happy coincidence, I also had a very old Sculpy head with a long, curved neck. It was a failed attempt at a Hermione doll (!) from my very first Craftster swap, many years ago. I wired it to some pieces of a plastic from a car dealership advertising license plate from a car I don’t even own any more.
I had made lots of holes in the head and neck to allow for attaching hair and clothing, etc. Those neck holes worked perfectly for wiring it between the wings. I also wired on a piece of flexible gridded plastic for the tail.
Sorry, those are the only pictures I took of the work-in-progress... My head gets so wrapped up in crafting that I forget to take pictures as I go along.
Her hair is yarn I got at a fiber artist’s garage sale. It’s got some silk fiber content, I think.
She was a lesson in perseverance. I made the mechanism first, and then when I added the doll, the mechanism couldn’t handle that much weight and it broke. I was heartbroken! Had to rebuild it. Then took it apart and rebuilt it again just before posting it, to add wood glue for strength.
This may be my favorite thing I’ve ever made, and I’m so grateful that TheRagingSloth kindly gave me permission to go way overboard with it so I could fulfill my artistic vision. No way it’s a medium, but I had this compulsion about it.
Notice that I managed to sneak a little yellow in there at the bird-lady’s breast. That is my chosen color for the swap!
I like to imagine that her heart is radiating joy and light.
P.S. I uploaded a video to YouTube; link is below in my signature.
