The stirrups were simply made out of rhenoflex cut from a paper template I drew up, then heated up at the edges. I cut slots for the stirrup leather and then sewed on the nylon strap. I then used spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the outside of the stirrup, and gradually cut and folded pieces of fabric onto the inside, gluing it down with a hot glue gun. I covered up the seam between the stirrup straps and the plastic by gluing on some pieces of velvet strap samples. The finish product looks refined and completed without taking up too much time - it feels like a shortcut that was worth doing, and is still very strong. The seams on the inside of the stirrup will be completely covered by the foot sitting inside of it.
The tongue was made from a quick three-piece pattern I drafted up that was based on a loosely curved triangle. I didn't want to make a basic two-piece sandwich-style tongue because I wanted it to sit up on it's own a little, giving the bird more personality. The pattern came out really well as you can see below with how it sits in the lower jaw.
Before doing any airbrushing I decided to test my possible paints. On the left you can see my artist's ink samples; these inks are made from shellac and pigment. They are softer in colouration. On the right is acrylic paint mixed with water as a thinner. The colours are stronger and more precise. In the image below them, I have poured water over the samples and then wrung them out. As you can see, the 'inks' sample has faded considerably, the definition in the lines has gone entirely. I can imagine these inks running a lot in the rain. The acrylic, however, has held up very well, and doesn't look to have budged at all. I will use acrylics for my airbrushing because of these results; it's also easier to mix up colours with acrylic as well, before adding water to them.
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