How to Build a Bird

The Forrest Dweller Sculpture Garden is home to many large avian sculprures created in concrete and steel. Here is how I make them. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Working from a very rough sketch, I calculate the sizes of metal components that I will use. Using a band saw, I cut pieces of rebar and angle iron to form the armature or skeleton of the bird. Using a cutting torch, I cut wings from cold rolled sheet steel. These elements are welded, using a stick welder, into the armature.

I then cover the armature with chicken wire. This is important to the concrete adhering to the armature.

I mix a concrete composit of cement, peat moss and acrylic fortifyier into a mixture that looks and feels like clay that you would dig from a river bank. My procedure is published on my website (http://www.forrestgreenslade.com/procedure.htm). The concrete is pushed into the the chicken wire to sculpt the shape of the bird. I make eyes from half marbles, and affix them into the bird's face.

The entire sculpture is them coated with a surface treatment. Here, I used a bronze metal coating from Sculpt Nouveux. The surface was then tarnished to produce a somewhat antique appearance.

These pieces are very heavy, so I often engineer them in more than one piece to be assembled at the display site. For this sculpture, I created a concrete rock to serve as the standard for the bird. First, I welded a strong armature.

Then, I sculpted a rock with holes to accept the feet of the bird.

Such bird sculptures are among my favorites to create.

Regards,
Forrest