A Documented Life -- Separated At Birth

I've often said that I generally begin a project with a rough plan, but how it ends up is a whole other story. This week's prompt in The Documented Life Project is to include a bird image on a page. All I knew at this point is that I wanted a metal bird and I also wanted one made of fabric.

I looked at these two guys and the phrase "fraternal twins" came to mind. And the piece wound up being light hearted.

The background is a collage of strips of three different gelli plate prints. Metal bird was cut from a piece of aluminum which I stained with brown ink and stamped with black (both permanent - I used Ranger's archivals). Holes were punched with an awl and the wing attached to the body with needle and thread. His eye is a metal brad with the look of a screw.

Fabric bird was machine stitched on muslin, following a very lightly drawn outline, then colored with highly diluted water colors. When dry, I cut it out close to the stitching, and adhered it to the page with Ailene's tacky glue.

The moral of the story: a chance encounter can be life changing, even for a bird.