HUGIN AND MUNIN

Several years ago I found a tutorial online to make these two ravens. In Norse mythology Hugin and Munin were shapeshifters and loyal scout of King Odin. They would be sent out each day to scout the world and report back to the king at days end. One is a searcher and one is a watcher. Here is a progression of how I made Hugin and Munin.

To start the heads I sculpted the beak and the 'core' of the head out of Epoxy air dry clay formed around foil and then rolled eyes into a ball so they could be added later. Once the clay is dry it can be added to with other clays but the Epoxy clay is super hard and strong.

The bodies are made using a wire armature wrapped in felt for bulk. I had to pose the figures the way I wanted them before adding all of the  wrappings. The hands are also sculpted using wire and Epoxy clay.

Here I have set the heads onto the shoulders of the body and using polymer clay I have added to the head so the clay can be textured to resemble feathers. The holes poked in the clay at the base of head is where I will later glue pin feathers for the raven's ruff. The brownish fabric is felt I added to bulk up the bodies as they were too skinny for my idea of what I wanted. They look pretty pathetic right now but will improve with progress.

Here I have shaped the hands and wrist areas that will show after the clothes are on. I had to shape and pose at same time so the one hand would be laying on his knee.  At one point in time I decided the armature was not strong enough to support in either bird so added a stiffer wire to the spine and legs and rebound with fabric and after much ado I got them both good and strong. 

Here I have added the wire armature for the wings which will be covered in clay as the ruff is and feathers glued on to them. I can't find the photos of the finished Ravens before their clothes were added. I will add them later if I come across them

After all building/sculpting of the Ravens I painted the head and hands and shoes. Everything was painted black and I wanted it a shiny blue black color So I used a gloss paint...What a hard lesson that was. Glossy anything including sprays causes a reaction between the gloss and the polymer clay. They got very sticky where the two mediums met. Now I spent the next week trying to find a product to unstick them and finally ended up scrubbing the paint off with a green scrubber.  It didn't hurt the clay or any other part of the bird it was just a lot of work and frustration. The shoes were not affected since they were not polymer clay as was the beak and ruff...Just the pink part of the head that shoes in one of the photos.

I ended up using a black flat paint and found a gloss made for polymer clay. Not as pretty as I had it before with the sticky stuff but acceptable. I used a blue rub on them very lightly to highlight the feathers. 

In making these Ravens I learned it is illegal to own or sell Raven feathers in the United States unless you are a Native American. Now I have another dilemma but solved it pretty easily buy going on the internet. I love internet shopping. Any way, I found a place in Oregon that dyes rooster feathers since they are most closely related in looks to the raven. They have a pointed tip as apposed to the rounded one of crows.  I ordered and was very pleased with the look and feel of the feathers and the price was certainly good. I needed 3 different lengths for the different areas of the statues. Long for the bottom of the wings and short from there up. The ruff used the short also and the fluffy ones on top of wings are from the 'pin feathers' of the rooster...So now the Ravens are painted and feathered and need clothes. 

For the pattern I researched the style and found exactly what I needed online and only had to print out the pattern. It was the exact size needed for the birds which was a full size authentic male viking  costume. 

I used 100 % wool for the clothes and hand stitched much of it since I had to actually sew it on the figure. The hardest part was doing the embroidery and beading but I was most pleased with the results I got. It is a tunic over pants and a cape that hangs between the wings. In this photo they have their capes pinned in the front...later I will replace with a photo of the completely finished statues.