Indigo Bunting Necklace
Introduction: Indigo Bunting Necklace
So, for the Rainbow Contest, I decided to go after that strange, illusive color, Indigo. For me, what pops in my head right away, is the cute little Indigo Bunting. I have seen a lot more of them this year than I have before. They tend to just look like bright flashes of color as they dart past, hiding in the weeds.
Instead of just portraying the well-known, flashy male, I decided to put him together with his female counterpart. I decided that a lovely little nest scene was a good way to show them. It is also a good way to educate people on what the two of them look like; a stark contrast of one another, the male bright indigo and the female in a drab brown of concealment.
Come along and create this cute necklace!
Supplies
1. Clay in brown and indigo (or as close as you can get - we will add some colored pastel and mica powder to help his bright coloring).
2. Clay tools (roller, knife, and stylus or needle tool)
3. Work space
4. Tiny ball tool (also known as mandala tools or nail dotters)
5. Small soft brush for using with pastels and paint
6. Pastels in various shades of brown. Also you should add in green, blue and purple, and a grey if you have it (which I don't).
7. Acrylic paint in black and grey (Grey not pictured)
8. OPTIONAL: Mica powder in purple and blue. I think this just adds to his shimmery shininess, but you could also just paint him with metallic purple and blue paint.
9. Necklace chain with wide links
10. Two large jump rings
11. Set of round nose pliers
Step 1: Sculpt the Nest
We will begin with the nest.
Roll out the brown clay. Don't make it too thick or too thin. With the knife tool or the stylus, sketch a bowl shape on the flattened clay. Trim this out with the knife tool. Set this aside.
Cut out two thin strips of clay from the leftovers. 95
These will be the limbs that the nest sits in between.
With the stylus tool, scratch lines into the two limbs, making them resemble the bark of a tree. If you have any silicone stencils that are wood-like this would be a cool time to use them. Just make lines until you are satisfied. Vary the lines in thickness, thinness, and length to make them look more natural. I also used the knife to cut the end of one of the branches and make a small broken branch piece sticking out from it.
Stick the ends of the two limbs together so they make a "v" shape. Place the bowl in the middle of the "v". Make sure it is tightly adhered.
Step 2: Nest Details
With the stylus tool, scratch and swirl the needle around to make a rough, fiber-like appearance. Their nests are made of twigs, but I have yet to come up with an easy technique to make small twigs that I am satisfied with. This is what I do right now, maybe someday I will figure it out.
At the ends of the branch limbs, poke holes all the way through the clay. These are for the jump rings. Make them larger than you think they actually need to be.
Now get out the brown, green, and grey pastels. With the small brush, dust the branch limbs first with various browns. I made mine pretty dark. Then dust the nest with a variety of the brown, green, and grey. You don't want to make it as dark as the limbs because then it won't stand out.
Set the nest aside.
Step 3: Female Bunting
With the left over brown clay, roll it out. Sketch a bird with a crest on the flattened clay. I advise looking up images of the Indigo Buntings to help you with this. Indigo Buntings are a member of the Cardinal family, but I have noticed in most photos I have looked at the female's crest is much more apparent than that of the male. They have fat beaks like finches (and Cardinals, duh :).
Trim out the bird. She doesn't have to be a whole bird; only the top half because she will be sitting on the nest. With the stylus tool, sculpt the little details, like the eye, the beak, and various feathers. I just make pokes and scratches to indicate the feathers.
Color the bird with pastel. This did not turn out like I liked it, so I added some grey paint later on, so you could just skip this and simply paint her if you wanted. 879