Nesting

I love Claudine Hellmuth's work and enjoyed an online class with her last year. (I had less time than I thought to put into the work, but I still learned a lot!) So, when I saw her freebie tutorial for a paper bird's nest in my email box, I decided I had to give it a go.

If you click on Claudine's link, you see this nice full nest into which she put pretty eggs.Mine is a little different. Here are a few of the pitfalls I noticed. Nothing major, but worth keeping in mind if you try this!

First, Claudine says cut up brown paper bags and text for the paper bits. Then you glue them over the back of a protected bowl to make your nest. (I'm giving vague instructions because I want you to visit her!)

So I did. Note to self. It is best to use the paper bags. I had some cool brown shred which I thought would look all nest-like and it does. But it was a pain to work with.

Note 2. Use enough paper. My nest is pretty thin and I think it suffers for it. If you look at mine and then Claudine's, you'll see how hers is fuller and probably stronger. More layers.

Note 3. This takes a lot more matte medium than you think it will. Just be prepared.

Note 4. Make sure you use more brown than white. Otherwise it looks like the photo above, which isn't too "nesty."

Note 5. Other materials can help. I used a little green moss to darken things up and I also added a thin layer of medium to the inside of the nest and sprinkled oregano gently within. It helped.

Note 6. I still wasn't thrilled by the white look so I did a thin raw umber wash. You can see it a bit in the above photo. It helped. A lot.

Note 7. Fill can help all around. I added a few feathers, some inside moss and ...

Voila! I was very happy!

These are delicate and I suspect mine is more so because I didn't use enough layers of paper. But it's pretty darned cute and I'm sure I will make another! Thanks, Claudine!

Note: I have just updated my book blog, Chopsticks and String, so if you're looking for a good read (or one to ignore), stop by!