Singing In The Rain

I felt badly side lining the faithful Robin, in the last piece and denying him his role in announcing Spring's arrival, so I gave him a piece all his own. I had collected a few photos of singing birds and wanted to place this guy on a branch with young bursting buds.I found  3 different cords and twisted them together. This gave me  an interesting surface to perch the Robin.

 

It was attached to the backing in a lazy pattern using a zigzag stitch with invisible thread. I wasn't sure how the materials would lie but when one of the threads is the slippery nylon, it is really easy to remove. And in fact after all the materials were in place I did remove it at the end.

 

As with most of my birds I started with a cartoon and matched up as many different thread colours as I thought I might use. The more you can use the better the blends.

 

 

I fused the pieces to a piece of the eventual background material. This allowed me work the piece with a stabilizer and then, cut away the excess and not have to worry about the edges being a different colour.

 

All this guy needs are some legs but it is easier to add them once he is attached to the background.

 

I wanted the branch to have some "cute "buds so I cut small pieces of a pale spring green ribbon, twisted them into a tight loop and anchored them with glue. Pinned them to a box to dry.

 

After the robin was in place, the rain stitched on, I released the twisted cording from the invisible zigzag and using glue inserted the leaf pieces, and glued them in place.

 

The piece is a little empty still. I will make and add another dozen or so "leaves" and probably a few flower buds to brighten the day.