Birds Birds Birds

Just came in from making a clay bird, that will go into the belly of the giant (30ft high) wooden phoenix which will be set on fire at 8:00 p.m. at the Firebird Festival December 12th in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

Every year our fabulous local potter Lisa Muller gives workshops on how to make them. She takes about a hundred of them and wraps them in various color producing things such as banana peels, eggshells and other random items, then wraps them in tin foil and places them inside the Phoenix. People come back the following day to pick up their bird out of the smoldering ashes. Here is a picture of some of the birds from last year.


The Firebird Festival is always a fun event, and this year I had an idea to have kids make paper lanterns and march in the annual parade along with musicians and giant bird puppets. The Children's Librarian at the Phoenixville Library is graciously allowing me to use their Community Room to conduct an ongoing workshop from 10 to 4 on the Saturday before the Festival, which is this coming Saturday, December 5th! The libary is located on 2nd Avenue in Phoenixville.

It takes about a half an hour to make a lantern. Then you take it home to dry. Once it's dry you add the handle and a battery operated votive candle. All materials are provided. A $5 donation is suggested to help cover the costs.

I hope to see you at the library!

In the meantime I've been making bird ornaments which will be for sale at the Artisans Bazaar on the night of the Firebird Festival. I just added more plumage for some extra va va voom.

This morning I sketched out an idea for a painting of a woman with phoenix wings that I'm going to try to paint/finish before the festival, and offer prints for sale there. If I get it done, the painting will be on display at the Artisans Cafe on Bridge Street in Phoenixville for the month of January, along with other Phoenix inspired artworks.



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