Ravens, part 6: Legs

The raven legs are finally finished. It took four days to wrap, paint, embellish and glaze all five pairs. This includes the drying time between each step. Continue reading to view the process.

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March 24, 2019: I paint the leg and toes with Mod Podge (I love Mod Podge. It's thick and sticky, but dries clear and hard) and then wrap them with fabric floral tape. I wrap each toe about a dozen times, slathering more Mod Podge between the layers. The more tape layers, the stronger the toes.
It takes about an hour to wrap each leg. So with 10 legs to wrap, this was a long day. Then I let them dry for 24 hours.
(I showed how I made the claws in a previous post.)

​A pair of legs after wrapping with floral tape.

All 10 legs wrapped and set aside to dry. 
As you can see, I ran out of white tape, so I used dark brown tape on one pair. The tape color won't matter, because it will be painted.

Next I painted the legs with two coats of metallic platinum acrylic, and then placed them next to the fireplace to dry overnight.

I like to wrap the legs with colored strings and yarns. It makes them stronger, and also creates an interesting texture.

I let the wrapped legs dry on the hearth overnight.

And here are the wrapped legs after drying. I plan to wrap them one more time, and then add a final coat of Mod Podge to make them as strong as possible. Then I'll set them aside to dry for a few days while I work on the raven bodies.
​The next step: Building the bodies.

Ravens, Part 1: Finding Inspiration
Ravens, Part 2: Feathers
Ravens, Part 3: Making lace for the head and neck
Ravens, Part 4: Starting on the legs
Ravens, Part 5: Claws
Ravens, Part 6: Legs
​Ravens, Part 7: Building the body
Ravens, Part 8: Beaks
​Ravens, Part 9: Attaching the legs
Ravens, Part 10: The exoskeleton
Ravens, Part 11: Feathers and Lace
Ravens, Part 12: Finally finished!

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