How to Make Outdoor Artificial Tropical Birds

Driftwood and Dead-Fall

• 1

  Examine dead-fall branches, tree roots and driftwood for pieces that are the size, shape and diameter of the body of your chosen tropical bird.

• 2

  Don wrap-around eye protection and ear protection. Tie your hair back in a bun, not a ponytail, even if you are a male, to prevent long hair from wrapping around the spinning portion of power tools.

• 3

  Trim away protruding knots or twig ends that don't conform to the shape you envision for your bird's body. Use a woodcarving knife, disk sander or high-speed, hand-held rotary tool to trim.

• 4

  Find driftwood and dead-fall pieces that suggest your chosen tropical bird's legs and neck. Match drill bits to the end diameter of the neck and leg pieces. Secure your bird body piece in a vise, and drill 1/2-inch to 1-inch-deep holes for the legs and neck with a power drill.

• 5

  Apply carpenter's glue to one end of each leg or neck piece with a watercolor brush. Also apply glue in the holes you just drilled. Wait 10 minutes for the glue to become tacky.

• 6

  Twist and push the neck and leg pieces into their holes. Wipe away excess glue with damp paper towels.

• 7

  Drill a neck hole in whichever wood piece best serves as the head of your tropical bird. Apply carpenter's glue to the end of the neck and inside the hole. Wait 10 minutes for the glue to become tacky before twisting the head onto the neck.

• 8

  Carve details into your bird's body, including feathers and wing markings. Use the high-speed, hand-held rotary tool and your choice of drill bits for this task.

• 9

  Smooth your entire tropical bird using sanding drums on your high-speed, hand-held rotary tool, sanding belts on your disk sander or sandpaper, working from coarsest to finest.

• 10

  Paint your tropical bird in vibrant, jewel-toned, high-contrast acrylic colors, according to the type of bird. Allow the paint to dry overnight. Apply three coats of clear acrylic wood sealant, allowing it to dry overnight between coats.

Paper-Mache

• 11

  Build an armature from chicken wire and sticks in the shape of your chosen tropical bird. An armature is a rigid framework that supports malleable materials such as clay or paper-mache when making a sculpture.

• 12

  Tear newspaper into 2-inch-wide strips. Mix 8 oz. of white craft glue with 4 oz. of water in a shallow dish.

• 13

  Dip the newspaper strips in the thinned craft glue, and pull them slowly between two fingers to pull off excess glue. Smooth the paper strips over the armature in a single layer until you cover the entire structure. Allow this first layer of paper mache to dry overnight.

• 14

  Repeat dipping newspaper strips in glue and layering them over the entire armature two more times. Allow each layer to dry overnight.

• 15

  Tear remaining newspaper into 1/2-inch bits, and mix them with thinned white glue. Allow the mixture to soak for 30 minutes. Use your hands to knead the mixture until it feels like clay, adding more glue if the mixture is too difficult to knead or adding more paper bits if it is too drippy.

• 16

  Apply the claylike mixture to build up areas on your bird's body to resemble wing edges, feathers and crests. Allow the built-up paper-mache to dry two to four days before proceeding.

• 17

  Paint your tropical bird as desired, using jewel-toned acrylic paint. Allow the paint to dry overnight. Apply three coats of clear acrylic sealant, allowing it to dry overnight between each coat.