I am currently working on a scoulding blue jay (stiller) and have no experience bending thin wood to shape wings or tail. I also have no experience inletting inserts into the body. Help!

I have never done any woodbending myself. However I have observed woodworkers bend wood many times. You must make a male and female templet to the shape you want. Then steam the wood you want to bend, and clamp it between the templets. Compound bends are not possible. I am sure that somebody out there can elaborate on this process or suggest another process. :

The method described by waldgeist is great for larger pieces, but there are several other methods used for bending the thin inserts used for carvings and the male/female form is not generally required. If you want to use a form to get a precise bend, one form and a few clamps will suffice. When bending feathers, it is usually enough to wet the piece to be bent with warm water, bend the piece to the shape desired (compound bends are possible with these thin pieces) and slowly dry it with a hair drier. Try it on a thin piece of scrap wood first. If it doesn't work quite right, it is better not to do it on a fully detailed insert and have to throw it away!

Got so carried away with the bending that I forgot about the inserting! I carve my inserts overly long so I have some adjustment when I set them. I lay the insert where I want it to go and mark it 1/8' longer than the portion I want showing. I then use a needle point diamond burr in my RAM high speed detailer to cut a groove in the body of the bird about 3/16' deep (again for flexibility when I set the insert). This groove must be close to the upper surface of the body to get a good transition from the insert to the body. I grind the edge of the insert to a sharp wedge shape to match the cut in the body, being careful that I don't remove material where it will show after insertion. The entire piece is then painted, including the insert. I then put the insert in place and let a drop of 'Superglue' to drip into the joint. This is all that is needed to hold it securely after it is 'wedged' into the body of the bird.