The Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), along with the Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) is the UK’s smallest bird, weighing just 5.5 grams – about the weight of a 10 pence piece!

Needless to say, this bird was definitely going to be a challenge due to it’s size, so I have been putting it off for a while now.

Small birds seem to just fall apart from even the warmth of your hands, so did 90% of this project with tweezers alone!

After soaking in an alcohol solution to set the feathers and prevent bacteria before I started work.

It was extremely fiddly to do, but over all I am pretty happy with how this little one has turned out!

The hardest part was probably wiring the legs.

On all birds, to be able to attach them to their base/perch, I have to insert wire through the ball of their foot, all the way up their legs into the body cavity, where they are attached to the body form.

Take a look at the ‘behind the scenes’ photos to really get a sense of just how small this specimen is!

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Work & life update!

I’ve recently been going through a bit of a tough time, so have unfortunately had to take a little bit of time out from my work, hence the radio silence, sorry guys.

(Not to mention, I now have a little puppy, Ruby, who is taking up most of my time at the minute, but she’s cute so I’ll let her off!)

The last project I was able to work on, was this beautiful melanistic pheasant.

The customer wanted him in a ‘strutting’ pose. Extra wire enforcement is needed to maintain this posture, which are hidden within the legs (visible wires will not be included in the final piece, they are just back up whilst he dries).

I really love working with birds in motion, I think it gives them so much more movement and life within a piece.

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