Paper Mâché Owl - Part 13 Fixing the Beak

I have finished adding the cardboard "feathers" to the owl, and it was time to do fix the beak.  If you have been following along, you might have noticed that the beak was not particularly owl-like.  I left fixing the shape of the beak until the end for two reasons.  First, I was not exactly sure how much of the beak could be fixed by adding feathers to it to slim it down some.  The other reason is that once the shape was fixed it might get knocked around as I was turning the bird this way and that while working on it, causing it to lose its shape.  To fix the beak, it took some surgery; some of the beak had to go.

The owl's new beak.

An owl's beak is rather narrow and has a long hooked point.  To get rid of the excess width, I used a craft knife and cut down along both sides of the beak and removed some of the cardboard and tape.  Then I added some hot glue to stabilize the area and prevent future moisture invasion from the coming layers of paper mâché.  

After the beak was narrowed, I added some folded up layers of aluminum foil to develop the hooked shape.  This was attached with hot glue.  More foil was added over the upper part of the beak to make it look even with the hooked shape.  This was also attached with hot glue.  Then, The entire area was taped with masking tape.  A craft knife was used to trim away overlapping edges of tape.  Lastly, a layer of feathers was glued over the edges of the beak.

Front view of new beak.

The last part of creating the beak will be covering the area with layers of paper mâché over it to make it solid so it will not bend.  I have not gotten to that yet, but my next plan is to cover both the beak and talons with paper mache.

My next blog post will be show that and also talk about some changes coming to the owl.  Check back next Tuesday.