Yesterday I finished the owl sculpture that I've been working on since the end of December. There a few minor things I would change, but generally I'm pretty happy with it. I originally set out to make a great horned owl at the suggestion of a local resident who was interested in buying it for her garden. After I started working on it, though, I realized I wasn't having a lot of fun trying to anticipate what someone else might or might not like. So I through the "for sale" idea out the window and focused on just having a good time making an owl. Here is how it turned out (here is a video):
And here is how I made it.
 | I originally had it mounted on a piece of bed frame that would fit over a 2 x 4. My plan was to drill a couple of holes for mounting the frame and then sculpt the toes so it would look like they were grasping the 2 x 4. I haven't spent much time looking at owls, so I had to look at a lot of photographs to try to get the body proportions and stance right. I built a basic frame using junk steel rods and other odds and end. The big gear that will become part of the shoulder is from a broken paper shredder that I finally took apart after carting it around for years. |
 | I made most of the belly feathers with the metal shredding disks that were inside the paper shredder. I started building the wings with some pieces of the frame to an old sled (red). I used other pieces of that sled in my pachycephalosaurus. The tail feathers are the handles from butter knives. I learned with the rooster that it works best for me to build birds from the inside out, as feathers are almost always overlapped by other feathers. |
 | I used the blades of butter knives (obviously) for the feathers at the ends of the wings. I built the shape of the upper part of the wings using some scrolled steel pieces from an old plant stand that I scavenged from my parents' basement (I also used parts of that same plant stand on my pachycephalosaurus and the MiG-15 I'm working on). I used pieces of thin sheet metal (cut from the same rusted platter I used for many of the feathers on the rooster -- I'm going to miss that platter when it's gone) to create some surfaces on the upper wings. |
 | By this point I had realized two things: (1) the legs were too long; and (2) I was keeping the owl. I cut it off the original base and took the opportunity to work on the belly feathers. This shows the shredder disks all welded in but not "smoothed" by grinding. |
 | This shows the body re-mounted on a new base: a perch made from the handle of some kind of steel tool and a cast iron microphone stand that I serendipitously found in the base of our house (left by the previous owners). I used an angle grinder and a flap disk to touch up the edges of the belly feathers to try to create some contrast and texture. |
 | A piece of 3" exhaust pipe and a tea kettle lid were about the right size, so I started the head with those. I started working on the upper belly with some pieces of a rusty appliance frame that I picked up years ago at "Hell's Bridge," Michigan, on a road trip with my daughter. |
 | SCETV visited my workshop while I was working on the owl. They did an interview for Palmetto Scene, which should air in late January or early February. |
 | Starting to build the face and head. I used a handle of a trash can, some bike parts, and old scissor handles to start building up the face. I bought some glass eyes because I thought they would look good. They did not and I abandoned the idea. The first beak (shown here) is made from a piece of a large carabiner. |
 | The face and head after a considerable amount of work. I used a bunch of links (cut in half) from a small chain to try to make feathers around the eyes. That was tedious. They were too small to hold in place with my glove on, so I eventually had to resort to using a pair of tweezers (I could not find the needle-nosed pliers). Those got the job done, but not without a lot of dropping and cussing. Not my favorite part of this project. |
 | Once I finally got the area around the eyes built up and looking like I wanted it, the original beak had drowned. I had to make a larger one that would protrude correctly. I'm getting better at beaks (since the first ones never work right, I've made twice as many beaks as birds). I made this one from some tool hanging hooks -- I welded few together, filled in the gaps with the welder, and ground it down and cut it to fit. |
 | The completed face. |
From the side.
From the back.
From the top.
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