Funky Junkyard Birds: A New Flock Has Landed

It is no secret that I am a collector of worn out and tossed aside objects, the rustier, grittier, and grimier, the better. If those objects are scratched, dented, and beat up, my heart skips a beat. Every couple of years, I feel the tug to create a new batch of my Funky Junkyard Birds. I pull out vintage tins and pieces of metal that I’ve been squirreling away over the months, and begin selecting which pieces will be used for making my metal found object birds.

Although I’ve been a collector for years, the idea for creating metal birds came in 2010 when I took Leighanna Light’s Birds Gone Wild class. I was immediately smitten and Leighanna gave me her blessing to make my version of the birds, saying, “Yes, of course, sell away!”

I started my latest batch of birds in February, with an offer from my husband to cut out and flatten the vintage tins and cut out the bird parts: wings, heads, pants, shirts, and bodies. I selected which tins I wanted to use, drew shapes onto the metal, and then turned them over to Howard to cut and sand the razor sharp edges. After a couple of weeks, I had beautiful piles of bird body parts.

In March, the auditions began. This involved combing through my basement stockpiles, opening cupboards, pulling out drawers, digging through bins, and pawing through boxes. I pulled out various found objects that might serve as a body, then tried out different heads. Personas began to take shape; pants or legs were added; an array of wings posed;  balancing shape, color, and design. Unique bits and crazy finishing trinkets added to the emerging personalities of each bird.

Once the birds were Frankenstined together, a process that took several weeks, each bird was given a name, photographed, and are now making their debut.

Here are a smattering from the 25 I created over the past four months.