Bird Charms!

This year I started to make a variety of carved accessories that I call: bird charms.  These items vary from actual charm, to pendants, keychains, pins, and brooches. I created these out of my own desire for accessories to wear myself and then it grew.

Its been really interesting making these because I've learned a lot while researching and through trial-and-error, of how to design these items.  Each item had its own challenges and I tested the items myself and learned about any flaws they had first hand.  Here are a few I've made so far:

Summer Tanager brooch, holding a berry which is a real ruby.

This bird was actually the second Summer Tanager I made, the first one was just a simple charm but the dimensions of the bill and size of the head needed to be larger. I think its a really unique and charming piece of jewelry. 

Mouring Dove pendant, with a brass ring so it can be worn as a necklace.

The eye is a german glass eye, and painted with acrylic paints.  I use Martha Stewart Craft Paint for all my birds. 

White-eyed Vireo pendant with a custom made glass eye.

This was made with a Prairie Warbler charm, but that piece was sold.

Green Heron keychain or bag charm.

This one had a screw hook attached to the back of the birds head and then attached to the keychain hardware but this is not as secure as I like.  Im currently testing an alternative, which can be seen on the Black-bellied Whistling Duck below. 

A variety of bird charms/pendants:

(from right to left)

Eastern Bluebird, Purple Gallinule, Fish Crow, Barred Owl, Least Tern. 

This photo washed out the color a little bit, the last picture does show more true to color.

Black-bellied Whistling Duck keychain. 

This is the new style I'm testing where a wire goes through a hole in the back of the birds head.

This seems to be a lot more secure, but I do need to find a cleaner way to attached the bird to the ring rather than with just twisted wire (which actually isn't that sturdy).

A group photo of all the charms in this post for size comparison. 

I always try by best to make my birds accurate to their life size.  I research their sizes from data collected through field work, so they are usually down to the millimeter. 

Carolina Wren Carving #8

Yesterday on my Instagram I did a throwback to my 8th bird carving which was done in June of 2010. Its a Carolina Wren that I would see in my backyard when I lived in Houston, TX.  I would hear it sing often, as well as its mate, and sometimes it would sleep tucked under a metal bracket of the back patio.  I put up a small bird house for it in my shade garden full of native grasses and wildflowers, but it never nested there.  I gifted this Carolina Wren to my parents and it sits happily on a shelf in their kitchen with some of my other carvings. I went to visit them for Memorial Day and when there was a break in all the rain, I decided to take some pictures.

This bird was one of the few that have full wire feet; something I would do when I first started carving. After the wire feet phase, I used molded pewter feet but I wasn't really happy with them, especially for the tiny birds like warblers. Currently I have switched back to using wire, but only for the leg (tarsus) portion of the leg.

Carolina Wren, carved in June 2010

Carolina Wren bottom details. On all my birds I sign with my initials DKK and the month/year.  I do record all the exact details in a journal I have that includes where I saw the bird, what it was made of,  and the exact date I finished the bird, plus the name of the person of the person who purchased the bird from me or who I gifted the bird to.