musket
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Another one I thought I'd posted in Sculpture.
The Snowcap, aka White-crowned Hummingbird, is a rare species from Surinam. The males are the only hummers that have a pure white crown (as usual, the females look completely different). I had photos of a study skin for reference and was surprised at how big and stout their toes are compared to the tiny feet of a ruby-throat.
The eyes are black jade. The bill (beak) is inserted mammoth ivory, for most of its length it's .030" wide, widening to .040" at the base and tapering to .020" at the tip. The toes are inserted boxwood with steel claws. The tree is two-part epoxy putty over a wire armature, gilded. The opal which the bird seems to be guarding is crystal opal from the Lightning Ridge field in Australia. The water droplets at the base are moonstones. I cut the opal myself; the eyes and droplets are commercial cabochons. The base is snakewood, an extremely hard wood which, like the bird, is from Surinam. It is very prone to checking and I had to glue the sections together, which shows from one view, but what the hell.
The gold accents on the throat and wings are shell gold--23KT gold powder in gum arabic. This was used in some Medieval illuminated manuscripts and ain't cheap. I added a drop of acrylic dispersion to toughen it up. The bits of soil and stuff between the tree trunk and it's base are painted acrylic modeling paste.
We named him Schweppes, after Commander Whitehead, who used to shill for Schweppes Bitter Lemon and Tonic Water in TV commercials.
He's 2 3/8" from crown to tip of the tail.
Schweppes, 2004
Tupelo
Acrylics
Shell gold
Mammoth ivory
Black nephrite
Epoxy putty
23.75KT rosenoble gold leaf
Lightning Ridge opal
Acrylic modeling paste
Snakewood
Around 7" high
The Snowcap, aka White-crowned Hummingbird, is a rare species from Surinam. The males are the only hummers that have a pure white crown (as usual, the females look completely different). I had photos of a study skin for reference and was surprised at how big and stout their toes are compared to the tiny feet of a ruby-throat.
The eyes are black jade. The bill (beak) is inserted mammoth ivory, for most of its length it's .030" wide, widening to .040" at the base and tapering to .020" at the tip. The toes are inserted boxwood with steel claws. The tree is two-part epoxy putty over a wire armature, gilded. The opal which the bird seems to be guarding is crystal opal from the Lightning Ridge field in Australia. The water droplets at the base are moonstones. I cut the opal myself; the eyes and droplets are commercial cabochons. The base is snakewood, an extremely hard wood which, like the bird, is from Surinam. It is very prone to checking and I had to glue the sections together, which shows from one view, but what the hell.
The gold accents on the throat and wings are shell gold--23KT gold powder in gum arabic. This was used in some Medieval illuminated manuscripts and ain't cheap. I added a drop of acrylic dispersion to toughen it up. The bits of soil and stuff between the tree trunk and it's base are painted acrylic modeling paste.
We named him Schweppes, after Commander Whitehead, who used to shill for Schweppes Bitter Lemon and Tonic Water in TV commercials.
He's 2 3/8" from crown to tip of the tail.
Schweppes, 2004
Tupelo
Acrylics
Shell gold
Mammoth ivory
Black nephrite
Epoxy putty
23.75KT rosenoble gold leaf
Lightning Ridge opal
Acrylic modeling paste
Snakewood
Around 7" high
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