Needle Felted Life size (2'Hx3'W) African Grey Crowned Crane with Chick and Egg in a nest. 

 

This was a long complicated project. Easily the biggest project I've worked on so far. Orginally it was suppose to be standing. I made the legs (twice) out of polymer clay with a wire frame which did not work out at all. The nest added some much needed stability. It taught me a lot about the limitations of polymer clay. 

 

If I redid a standing crane similar to this at some point in the future, I would need thicker metal inside. Even with triple wire framing on the inside, it twisted and snapped the legs several times. 

Day 1 -- making the legs before baking and using my light to help the bird stand. 

The unpainted/unfired feet. 

day 2 - Filling out the core.

Working on the face

The entire body laid out on the floor. 3+ft of bird.

Redoing the legs in sections.

The new straight legs painted and glued together. At this stage, the legs were stable. This was before I added the weight from the detail work and the correct body proportion. Interesting facts -- While these birds are kept in the zoo, they hvae to closely monitor their diet. If they overeat, they tip over. Wish I knew that before attempting to recreate the bird. :) 

adding the first layer of feathers

Adding the grey feathers

Adding the wirey lighter gray feathers. Legs are beginning to wapr a bit. 

The bird became front heavy so I had to add some weights to the rear of the bird inside the core. The weight was equally distributed, but the legs twisted and cracked. It took another month before I gave up on the legs completely and decided to go with the nest instead. 

The nest Pre-bird placement.