If you’ve been following along in this photo essay of the creation of one of my papier-maché birds, you’ve seen the sketching phase and the sculpting phase, which brings us up to the painting phase! (If you missed the sketching & sculpting phases, those posts immediately precede this one.)

My imagination goes wild during the sketching phase, but it is in this final phase that I get to fully bring my vision into the world. This is when I add color, then intricate designs, and finally beads to make the bird unique. With all of the ornamentation, if one of my birds were attempting to attract a mate in the wild, I am fairly certain he would be successful.

It was difficult to narrow down my photos for this installment in the photo essay, but here are a few that I think capture the final evolution of the bird from paper sketch to physical being.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos and I’d love to hear any of your comments or questions! Please leave me a note below.