Can you hear me?

Despite making a scorpion (see here), and some seahorses and a whale (see here) I still had a lot of phone components left to use up.

So I made some owls.

I first made some owls from junk a few decades ago (the cassette tape is a dead giveaway isn't it?).

They were made for a display on a stall at a village fete. The component parts were old plastic plumbing supplies, foam shapes, hair clips, combs and household rubbish. And perhaps they were flitting around in my subconscious when I was rummaging in my big bag of phone cases? 

There was also the fact that, during the pandemic, we had to find new ways to keep in touch with friends and loved ones because physical contact was impossible and travel between locations was forbidden. Technology helped and the 2020 catchphrase of the year was undoubtedly, ‘Can you hear me?’ 

That made me think of owls. There are woods behind my house and most evenings I hear them calling to each other. The ‘tewit’ is one tawny owl saying ‘Can you hear me?’ and the ‘tewoo’ is the reply. I was struck by the fact that an owl’s life would be so much easier if they had our technological advantages. Imagine if owls could Zoom or Facetime or Skype. Or just phone each other. Instead, they spend all night screeching, 'Can you hear me?' and hoping for a reply.

The many phone cases and keyboards I'd been gifted became the obvious materials to use, along with materials collected from the woods where the owls live and call to each other.

Once I had the basic owl figure assembled, out came the black primer.

I then sprayed it with an antique deep copper and made a base from MDF and a gnarly piece of wood I found on a dog walk last year. Finally, I masked off the 'ground' with tape, coated it in PVA glue and sprinkled sand and some small rocks onto it. A final bit of paint and he/she was complete.

This became the first of several 'Phoney Owls' I created and sold.

By now, the bag of phone bits had gone down. 

But there were still plenty of pieces left ...