The Secretary Bird

Here in the studio, we are busy getting ready for the Fallasburg Art Festival. This is one of my favorite shows because it is organized by the local arts council. They work tirelessly to promote us artists and are delightful people as well. https://www.lowellartsmi.org/fallasburg-arts-festival. With this show and for future Christmas shows coming up, I am trying to design new ornaments. (A bit late, I know!) The secretary bird is one I made a while back.

Maybe it is a bit more than coincidence, but here is the story. I wanted to make a bird. A big bird (not a Sesame Street bird). It needs very long eyelashes and feathers in the hair. Long long legs. And wings. Of course wings. But not too big of wings.

I go about making such a bird. It can only be sooo big because my kiln can fire up to 9 inches round. So I cut out the body and head. 9 inches. I will add the legs later. I take a broken piece of fused glass and add it to the belly. I add hair feathers from broken fused glass as well. It sort of has a punk rockish look, but I like it. I am stuck on how to make the legs though. They should be long but the glass is heavy and I am not sure how to hold it up. (It has been almost a year and I still haven't figured out this problem). I paint Long Beautiful eye lashes. And fire. I'm proud of my bird! She is wonderful! (Minus the legs 🤔).

My wonderful creation Nine inches tall.

The next morning while doing my internet thing. I find her. There she is!!!! God has already designed my bird. Only this one is better. And real. The Secretary Bird. I had no idea. Her legs are long. Much better than no legs! She has long beautiful eye lashes. They call them feathers but really they are eyelashes. And she has feathers for her hair. Granted she is not lemongrass green and yellow. The colors are rather plain. Sorta black and whiteish. (Maybe I should make a black and white version?). But there she is in all her glory.

God is magnificent and so is His bird. The Secretary Bird. She was named in the 1800s after British secretaries. She originates from South Africa like my husband. The perfect bird. Plus she stomps out snakes. And let me tell you, they have some wicked snakes in South Africa but that is another story.

God's secretary bird. Photographer unknown

I am bubbling with joy over of my legless "Secretary Bird". She has a name and a new personality. God thought she was so great that he designed her first and gave me inspiration to copy.

Frankly, I am not sure my bird will ever get legs. She is quite heavy. But now there is a mini bird ornament. The same lovely lemongrass green. And she has been hanging above my desk for a while. Time to share the secretary bird with the world. Currently, there are six in the kiln to be firing today and will be finished and available at the Fallasburg Art Festival. Each one is unique because when you are cutting glass and painting eye lashes nothing ever turns out the same. Each one has it's own personality and, maybe sad to say, they originate from Michigan and not South Africa.

The original ornament that hangs above my desk