A RAT, MAGPIE & PIGEON
I then started to do some photographs of of specimens at different angles
I then played around with the rat wearing each bird as we discussed in tutorials
I really didnt like the fact that each bird in turn was just lying on top of the rat just lifeless and all it simply was, was a dead bird on the back of a rat. With this in mind i decided to play around with the separate elements of the birds...
I then made some drawings of what i thought would be success in stead of just having it in my head!
I decided to go with a crown style head piece (taking inspiration from previous research into tribal head wear). I used 2 magpie feet, 1 pigeon foot, one half of the magpies beak, a plume of feathers from underneath the pigeons wing & some thread. I also used super glue and a hot glue gun to attach it all together.
I then decided on a cape form for the wings, instead of just sticking the wings onto the body of the rat.
This element stems from the idea of having 'fairy wings' as a costume - but i wanted to make it more of a disguise so i opted for a cape.
I made the cape from a scrappy piece of material - so this isnt all taxidermy (which was thought to have been holding me back) so i experimented and it worked!
I then sewed a seam around the top wear the thread goes as like a harness
So as The rat stands at the moment...
I used the whole body of the pigeon stuck onto the cape (minus the pigeon wings and the feet etc) I think it compliments the specimen very well as the colours are accurate - much more than what my testers where made out of (the grey feathers that were pre-died one colour) You cannot buy the beauty of the natural feathers!
As i went along with the idea i faced some constraints -
> certain items needed super glue and didnt work with other adhesives
> the angle of the head piece was debated several times - ontop of the head or the final way of lying on top of the head like a helmet rather than a hat
> some items needed more than scissors to cut
> I needed a certain amount of wire to ensure that certain items stayed in place
> I needed to have patience and concentrate on the details as the end piece will hopefully be a really nice photograph or series of
> I am in two minds whether to use the spare pigeon wings as 'another' costume - maybe keep in with the humorous element and attach them onto a scaled hanger?
> The next big step is to develop my sewer - i have brought trays for water so it is just a case of trial and error - what works best
P.O.A from now
> develop simulated sewer
> develop outcome for display options are as follows
1. photo & specimen
2. just the specimen
3. just the photograph
4. A series of photographs
5. same as 4 but with the specimen along side
6. a video (my original idea)
7. a stop motion animation
8. do i have the specimen physically there or not?
9. do i include the alternative pigeon costume for humour
> evaluate in depth
> continue to reflect on the breadth of research