Paper Mâché Owl Part 10 - More Feathers to Give Owl Some Shape

I have made quite a bit of progress on my owl this week.  I have been adding more cardboard "feathers" to give the bird a more birdlike shape.  The feathers are cut from thin cardboard that had enough flex in them to be able to be glued down to the armature.  A heavier cardboard could have been used, but it would not have been as easy to cut or to bend.  I was fortunate enough to have received a lot of thin cardboard recently.  You know when the universe is behind your project when exactly what you need comes your way at just the right moment!  

Front view of the owl.

The feathers are in different shapes and sizes, so I was only cutting a few at a time until I had a good idea of how many feathers of a certain shape I was going to need.  Each of the feathers were hand cut with scissors.  I am sure that there is some type of die cut machine that could have done this, but I prefer to be hands on for every part of my project.  

The feathers also cover up a lot of the dents and divots in the armature.  The form has to be built up in stages.  The first stage of a project looks so unlike the envisioned project that it takes a lot of will power not to toss the whole thing into the trash.  I have to make each layer look a little more like the shape that I want.  Today's bird looks better than last weeks layer.  

Rows of feathers waiting to be cut.

The feathers were a little less pointed once they were cut.  It was easier to cut them out by moving the cardboard around the scissors and cut in a continuous line along each horizontal row.  You can see two of the feathers cut out above the piece of cardboard.

The feet will not be worked on until the entire bird is covered.  At the moment it is a little tail heavy and tends to rock back onto its tail.  I expect the weight to shift once the glass eyes are added and the head is covered with feathers.  I may need to adjust the wire feet once everything else is finished.

Side views of the owl. 

The wings are not quite finished yet.  I still have to put on the cap of the shoulders.  Once the last of the shoulder feathers are on I will pause work on the feathers and paint the glass eyes.  They will need to be in place before the last of the feathers are added.  

Check back next week on Tuesday for the next installment.