I saw a photograph of a bird in flight with sunlight behind, making its wings almost transparent. I experimented to see if a similar effect could be achieved with paper and finally settled on paper vellum which is strong enough for fine cutting and marking and yet has a slightly transparent quality which shows up when layered.
The bodies of the birds are cast recycled paper. Using plasticine to form the shape, I then make a mold from plaster of Paris. Paper mulch is pressed into the mold and dried.
The next step is to individually cut and mark each feather before layering them and gluing them to the body. More details of the cast and feathers are in the illustrations below.
Once this project was completed, I began experimenting with colour. More about this in my Layered Papercut Parrots post.
