[squbrigg]

Hey Paul, did you finish that owl yet? We'd love to see the finished product, in place.

Bob

[Paul_Guraedy]

Bob, thanks for asking about the progress (or in this case the lack thereof) on the barn owl.

Took a while to put the breast feathers back in after carving them off and getting the "cleavage" (the legs cause a depression on these birds) in there. The housebuilding (mentioned somewhere else but don't remember where) is reaching the push for completion stage. With just the two of us working on it, I am not up to carving except on weekends.

I have managed to accomplish a little bit. The stoning par on the feathers is pretty well complete and I am ready to start burning the wing and tail feathers. Since the trailing edge of the flight feathers is soft, I am not sure how I am going to work this out. Maybe a combination of burning and stoning?

I spent quite a while making an armature for the legs and decided that this was just too much epoxy. So, I junked that and have cut two sets of legs out of poplar (shown) and tupelo and will use whichever works better. The feet and talons will still be two part epoxy and I have started the armature for them.

The sun just came up over the mountain and it will soon be time to return to house building.

[GILLY]

I think I slowed Paul down by pestering him for recipes....he he he

[squbrigg]

Progress is looking good Paul. I'll be curious how you accomplish the feet. The body looks great with the major feather groups well defined. Keep up the good work.

Bob

[jax]

Paul,

Have you thought of carving the legs and feet as part of the base and using dowels to connect the body to the feet?

Jax

[Paul_Guraedy]

Gilly, you did slow me down some. When I read over those sourdough recipes, I could not resist. Cooked instead of carved!

Jax, the method you suggested is the one that was recommended by Marlen Downing. It works well and helps in the final positioning of the bird and strenghtening the legs by running the grain correctly. However, I do not like this method for the feet.

I tried using a brass rod for the entire leg and was not happy with that. Now, I am playing with a modification. I have sawed pieces for the legs and will carve them and attach with dowel pins. I am making an armature for the feet using the brass rod, electrical wire, and two-part epoxy. I will extend the brass rod into the base, like a dowel pin, to help support the piece. This will allow me to easily place the toes and talons where I want them. The hardest part of carving a bird of prey is the talons. It is very difficult to get them to come to a fine point exactly against the base. Several years ago I started making inserts for my talons from epoxy. This has worked well for me. I can get them curved, and narrowing to a nice point and ending up looking, as they really are, separate from the base.

Now, I am going to try the entire foot. The photo is of an armature that I started last Sunday. I will use clay on this one to make sure it is what I want, then will do one in the two-part epoxy putty.

[Colin_Partridge]

Paul I am just getting back so I am catching up on the threads. Nice job on the barn owl very realistic. Hope the house is coming along well not long now until the move in date.
Colin