once I got the shape I was after, I covered it in drywall tape and painted on a thinset slurry to give it some tooth (I had problems getting mortor to stick real well on the last project)

then I coated it in portland/sand mix, adding wires for later appendages

and started glassing the plaque portion

teh using beads and polymer clay I added her comb and wattle, made a beak from vitreous tile, now I'm getting ready to mosaic the rest

As I said on Flickr, you beat all I've ever seen - soooooo creative. Gonna be a fun watch. I ought to do something like that for my brother, who raises game chickens. You inspire me.

I love the head tilt! I didnt see that pic earlier! So damn cute!

Ooooh this is so great!! Man you work fast...

That is looking good!!! What kind of glue did you use to glue the polystyrene sheets with ? I want to do a butterfly some day.

Nana, I used Gorilla Glue

starting the mosaic, tricky balancing act

Another White Leghorn bit the dust to be a trophy. Good work, NT.

LOL thanks, this one is too fun!

I'm ready for grout now

OHMYGOODNESS. That is absolutely so life-like. You are something else.

Oh so cute....love it!!!

Very very cool!

That is majorly Keewl!!

thank you chicas, I've got it grouted but I'm working out a few details and will get final pictures tomorrow.

in the meantime, enjoy a leg

Unreal! Or rather, so amazingly real and yet stylized! Love the millifiori accents... Did you seriously make those legs?

yeah, I couldn't believe how well they came out. when I was done baking them and held them up I was all - WOW, look how real they look! lol

I used floral wire to form an armature for the toes and baked them on coat hanger wire so when they came out I could remove it and glue them onto the wires that I had in the chicken. the upper leg/elbows I made seperate and fitted them on last.

Now you've done it. You are rising to interesting levels. I read some of your comments on Flickr, and YES, m'lady - as a country girl, we ate lots of parts of animals that w/freak y'all out - like the brains - chicken and squirrel (we were poor), but my momma never served us the chicken feet. The curl of her feet looks like she was on the roost when she met her doom. I'll bet her "fingernails" are gonna be awesome. Where w/this little number hang?

LOL, I had fun with this. I'm planning it to go between the windows over the couch I think.

I should introduce her by her name, The Chicken Bride

it is a sui generis masterpiece. You are a mosaics *and* polymer clay master.

Nah, no master of anything, just experimenting - who knew I could even make a chicken leg! lol

I really like her, the tess mix thrills my eyes and theres something really cool about the shape - makes me want to clutch her in my hands.

OMG!!!!! those feet look so real!!!She is so pretty cool and so on.I love her.You did real good. makes me want to clutch her in my hands. I hope that does not want to make you ring her neck .

I'm telling you, girlie - that chicken looks alive. The feet - the comb - you are sooooooo good w/that clay. The ring, the veil - ah - you still amaze me.

A side question: what oven do you bake your clay in? I've got an oven that seemed to be recommended by polymer clay people, but I haven't used it yet. As an example, how long and at what temperature did you bake the dear girl's feet?

Which still amaze me, btw.

TIA!

Flyleft, I break the rules and bake in my kitchen oven in a dedicated pan sealed with foil. These are sculpy 3 so I followed the package and baked 15 minutes at 275 F. But because I was concerned about getting the coat hanger wire loose, I plunged them into ice water real quick to cause the metal to contract. I think it helped.

I'm too cheap to buy an oven for clay, just like I'm too cheap to buy the better clay LOL. heck it took pasta machines to go on sale at 9.00 each before I broke down and got one of those.

WOW!! What can I say..but that she is PERFECT!!! I too love the shape and the ring!!!hahaha!!! Cindy/Klinger and I just did a glass fusing class, was super fun!!!I bet we will have a blast on Cindy's new kiln too..heh heh heh!!

Wow, that's interesting, nicethyme. Everything I read about VOCs and such (it's been a long time, I'm blanking) -- you must fasten that foil very securely. Thanks for the tip about the coat hanger, too. DD and I have made lots of millifiori but haven't baked them yet. That's primarily why I got the oven--to save money on millifiori LOL!