Little Birdies

Once I figured out how to make perching feet with felt and 14 gauge wire, I did up a number of different types of little birds. The most popular three were canaries, cardinals and parakeets.  I’d do the birds out of velour and attach the beaks separately by hand, using black beads for eyes.  The wings got sewn details to them to make those a bit more elaborate, and the mask and crest on the cardinal were hand applied.  Ditto for the white face and beak on the parakeet.

 

These are 7 inches from front to tail.  Many places sell the wire by the foot, at around 50 cents per foot.  You need 9 inches per bird.  Eventually I was buying so much I just broke down and got a whole 500 foot roll for (at that time) $25. It’s gone up a lot, but if you find a roll discounted because it was opened you can get one for around $36 that way. 

Each roll usually took me about 2 years to use up, I would wire dragon wings, bird feet, tails, and a few other things, often braiding two or more strands together on the larger items to add stiffness.  The wire is plastic coated so it won’t rust, unlike that thin green painted floral wire you can get in cut strands. I tried using those but was very unsatisfied with the results after the ends got damp and discolored through the fabric.