Yes, it is finished… Tree of life, birds, nests. I will work on the roots when making the rocky surface but other than that all done. You can click to above picture to enlarge.

A close-up to some of the nests.

It is 4:35 in the morning. Another stolen night to spend on stop motion is almost over. Away from my all duties; taking care of my daughter, working to make money, taking care of the house, cooking, doing dishes,.. I feel like every moment I spend on this film is a stolen one and I think I like to steal a lot! Anyways… a beautiful end summer night; sitting in the garden with mosquitoes, hearing cats fighting in our neighbor’s garden, feeling good after preparing pictures to post here.

Ok, what I have done lately and how I done;

Making of the “Big Bird”

I made some small birds to place in the tree of life representing the “souls” out of super sculpey and posted here previously. I needed one to animate. Nothing complex; just one bird to be able to raise her head. Here you see her:

Super sculpey again. But made the head seperately, connected to body with a piece of wire. Glued some foam. Covered foam first with “real fleece” which Shelley sent me and then with some goose quill from our sofa.

She is nothing like the “Big Bird” from Sesame Street but somehow she reminded me of Big Bird at the moment I finished her.

Bird Nests..
This was challenging. Needed to look like bird nests but at the same time I wanted these to be strong; as being home for the souls. Metal but comfortable. After trying some different ideas, I ended up using pine cones. And boom! Cutting pine cones was harder then cutting steel… I am serious. Have you ever tried cutting pine cones with Dremel? I broke many blades made for cutting metals. Dust, smell,… had my respirator and protective clothes to keep myself safe

I painted cones with black acrylic and then stainless steel colored acrylic paint (which Shelley  sent me. Thank you!!) Dyed some raw looking yarn into green with acrylic again to tie the metal cones to the branches. Added moss around the nest after tying up.

Tree of Life Mooooddddiiifffficccaatttiioonn:
Collected some bark, killed the bugs with mosquito spray inside a bag. Left those in the air for couple hours to get rid of the poison. Covered the trunk with these barks and the glued moss all around.

I use old newspapers to keep the table clean. As I was working on the tree, I saw a small article right next to the roots of the tree about “Tim Burton” There is a Tim Burton exhibition at MoMA between November 22, 2009–April 26, 2010 No way for me to go as NY is kind of far away from where I live But, anyone living in NY and have not heard about this exhibition can check details here http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/313

Made many more new branches, added to the tree. Glued some more leaves.

The last picture on the right bottom is showing the quick background painting I did today to shoot the tree. The final background will be more like a real sky. This one was just for fun.

It has been a while since my last post about the film. I have been having a very busy summer; spending time with our families in July. At the beginning of August, our babysitter quit working -she’s getting maried- and my daughter started to go to kindergarten half day, 5 days a week. So, we have been trying to get used to our new life.

After taking a long break, I wanted to start with modifying the tree of life and making the small birds which represent the souls left their bodies after death and waiting for their birth again. Tree of life is a motif in various world mythologies and the birds sitting on its branches often associated with the souls. So, here they are:

On the bottom right, you see a quick installation of the bird onto a branch. I am currently working on these and will show final pics of tree of life and birds with my next post.

 I made these birds out of super sculpey. There are 15 birds sculpted and cooked. The necklace on my neck is a gift from Shelley… a bird nest and the egg; giving me luck and love for stop motion, for life…

Painted with white acrylic first and then used blue antique powder paint for an older look and some dimention. And ofcourse my little assistant was there to help me out By the way, the Tree of Life oil painting on the wall is a reproduction of one of Natasha Wescoat’s which I painted when I was pregnant to Zeynep.

Modification of the tree: I made some new brances and smaller leaves. I was not totally happy with the previous look. Now, it looks a lot better and I will post new pics later.