Tickled to be invited back to create an art piece for auction again this year, I knew what I wanted to make as soon as I heard we would be given boxes to alter.  After working on the box for so long, I kinda bonded with it, and didn’t want to part with it… so I put in my own bids to win it back, lol.

Here’s the low-down on how I made it:

• I painted the box with acrylics, using the same technique I use in most of my paintings
• Next came the cutting of the copper wire, in lengths to make the birdcage ‘skirt’
• The dremel came out to dill holes to poke the wire in the box to anchor each piece
• More wire was used to go around the cage, making the horizontal bars
• I tried to solder it with a soldering iron, but I couldn’t get in the joints properly, so my husband taught me how to solder with a little pen torch
• I cleaned off the flux, cut out a few bars for the door (dremel with cutting wheel attachment) and used copper patina to turn all the solder joints from silver to copper
• I made the heart with air dry clay (Das brand), painted it, and then carved in slots where I attached the feather wings that I cut off a bird * fake bird of course ;)
• Cutting up another bird for her head, I found it’s inner body was plastic, not Styrofoam like I thought it might be, I had to trim the plastic inside away so that the feathery outside would mold to the cut up ballerina Barbie that I used for her body
• Speaking of the Barbie… I took off her head and legs for the project, and painted her dress to match the bird head’s feathers
• Gathering the top of the cage wires with a wire & ribbon to cover, I added cheese cloth and lace that I ‘dyed’ with watered down acrylic paint (the paint gave it a good stiffness to hold it’s shape)
• Then on went the doll body and everything was wired and glued underneath, to hold her in place
• I used fishing line to hang the heart inside, then glued moss on to hide where her legs used to be, so it looks finished if you dare to peek underneath
• I used scripty rub-on letters on the inside to spell out “Let Your Spirit Fly Free”
• Working backwards as I often ‘leap before I look’, I attached hinges and a latch so that the bottom of the box was now the lid, and the lid became the bottom – this would have so much easier to do before the cage was attached!!

I think the bird head on her kinda freaked people out, lol – but they really dug her “Marie Antoinette” style dress and fact that I soldered my own bird cage for it.