The Kira Nichols Etsy Shop

Plenty more to see at kiranichols.etsy.com! Bookmarks, planner clips, digital stamps, ornaments, and many more unique gifts. Thanks for supporting this artist!

Toucan Sculpture: He's wearing a hat!


 Here's what I've been working on this week! While I was on vacation, I saw an awesome toucan sculpture made from different stones in one of the gem galleries. It was an instant WANT, but I thought, hey, why don't I make my own? It won't be made of rock, but it will be cute! So I started on this toco toucan guy on Monday.

 I had a little bit of air-dry clay in my stash, but I didn't want to use up ALL of it, not to mention wait days for such a huge hunk of clay to dry, so I first made the form of the toucan out of aluminum foil. The beak and body were made in two separate pieces, so the beak is attached and supported by two toothpicks jabbed in  and glued at the base. I stabbed in and glued the legs, which were just made from pretty sturdy .032 safety wire.

 Then I just had to cover the outside as smoothly as I could with the air-dry clay. I wanted a reasonably thick layer, because I was planning on sanding it smoother once it dried. And I did. The clay sands really nicely when dry, actually! The clay I used is Premier Lightweight Stone Clay .
 Then all I had to do was paint the toco toucan goodness on with artist acrylics. I used those because they dry a little shinier than craft acrylics, and I wanted the sheen. Oh, and I also added the tail which is just a tail shape cut from thick canvas I had painted/stiffened with the same acrylics I used on the body.
 "Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark." I needed a quote about faith, things hoped for, but not seen... Dreaming about and working towards having a toucan someday is going to take a lot of faith! Not to mention everything else...
The mini-hat is from Hobby Lobby and embellished with a fancy pheasant feather and lots of novelty yarn! 
And I also decorated the base with a bunch of inchies made from a cut out book page and toucan doodles. I can't wait to show it to Bobby when he gets home! He's been watching this little sculpture progress over the past couple days... Anyhoo, happy Wednesday, friends! Until next time.



10 comments:

LimeRiot said...

Absolutely fabulous, Kira!! What a wonderful sculpture. Toucans are way cool!!

Justine said...

this is pretty damn awesome.. I love it!

Jen said...

This is so cute - fabulous job!

Anonymous said...

Wooow, awesome!

DeeAnn said...

Oh My Gosh is he amazing! I love him! Wow! I hope you post him at Craftster so I can hit This Rocks button.

Heather said...

Wow! I LOVE this guy!

Amy said...

That is one cool toucan! Great sculpture.

Leslie Andersen said...

I love your toucan! The paint really brings him to life; you did a fabulous job on that!

Anonymous said...

Kira, this is just awesome! I definitely crafted my pants when I saw this :D BTW, there's a challenge on my blog for you...

Anonymous said...

Love! Love it! Love it!
What type of glue did you use to secure the beak? Also, one of your links is blocking part of the post on my screen and I can't read what type of material you used for the tail. THANKS! Have a wonderful day!