A message bird is a new concept. I designed these birds for the Birds of a feather Exhibition and just fell in love with them. They seemed to come alive and I got so many great comments that I was just amazed that other people loved them. I then approached the gallery shop to see if they thought that they could sell my message birds and Kirsty said, ‘Yes, I definitely think they could sell’.

As time went on, it was hard to package all the message birds up to sell so I wanted a box and researched for a box that complimented the message birds. Picking matching colours from the birds just gave it a complete package.

I have three types of message birds which each have their own design.

The first mesage bird is printed in a range of colours with a flower pattern on the wings and chest. The eyes are printed (foiled) including a chinese design on its cheeks. It has plain wire legs that is sometimes decorated with beads.

The second type of message bird is made from a Hayley Gillespie print from one of her beautiful paintings. Hayley’s work is just beautiful including Hayley herself. She has inspired and encouraged me to do things I never would have thought of including most of the exhibitions I participated in. So if you buy one of birds made from a Hayley Gillespie print – you will have an art piece that is quite famous. The eyes are googly eyes (well that’s what I call them) and its a more time consuming as the card is quite thick. They come out very different  to what they started with.

The third is another design where I use print in foil. They are called my Aloha Birds which are bright and colourful like Hawaii is. I have tried to base them on the birds from Hawaii with my own little twist. The patterns are flowers and they are more feminine.

All the ‘Aloha words are hand cut by me. And yes it was tedious but so enjoyable when you see them like this.