I do love my birds, and have created two bird sculptures that I produce in (somewhat limited!) editions. I carved my original “Fat Baby Bird” from limestone, and made the original “Birds on Nest” from modeling clay. My silicone glove molds are both good for several more casts, by commission or on my own impulse. I can’t make many birds from these molds since the molds will fail well before I make 50 casts. I don’t have a set number in mind, hence the term “somewhat limited” edition!

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Mother bird with chicks (aka “Birds on Nest”) was the perishable original, now gone. Molds from casts lose detail so I do not plan to make one! This piece is limited by the durability of my mold. But there is a bit more history to the bird family, because I have already made two molds! But from two different versions of the original. I destroyed the first mold after only four casts.

I let the oil based clay original sit in my studio for more than a year before I made a mold. It looked good after I sprayed it with gloss acrylic to protect it, and friends admired it. A neighbor encouraged me to produce a durable cast of my birds, although I was not sure that I loved them.

I made my mold from the soft clay, which is tricky. But I was not satisfied with the original artwork; I wanted to change it!. Luckily I was able to remove that mold without destroying the clay original completely. This let me rework the clay to create a better piece. Now I have a new mold from the reworked modeling clay. This clay original is really gone now. I call the casts made from the remaining molds “Birds on Nest II”.

Please contact me if you want me to make you a bird!

You can get a look at both of my bird sculptures easily if you are in Port Townsend. I placed both bird sculptures in a local pedestrian shortcut trail on the Spruce St. right-of-way near Ft. Worden State Park back gate. Adjacent neighbors landscape and maintain this section of trail near Ft. Worden so beautifully! They nestled my “Fat Baby Bird” toward the north end of this half a block. Birds on Nest II sits at the south end of this pleasant path.

I get some nice feedback from this installation. Recently a stranger who lives near this Spruce St. trail, called to commission her own “Birds on Nest II”. This was a delightful surprise! I made the cast a few days ago, and the piece is painted and ready for her now (she has it now, 4/7/21). You can see her penguin family above left.

I do love my birds: my bird sculptures and all the real birds. As a bird lover, I often have my binoculars close to hand.