The wife says thanks for the compliments. Her style keeps getting more realistic as time goes on. This piece is a bit older. On the flip side, I started with realism and have come to appreciate the artsy side to things more.
Cecil, in my younger years I was toying with the idea of taxidermy. Just had too many things going on to look into it much. I have carved a few fish out of wood over the years. Don't worry, not interested any more, but I may want some of your work if the opportunity is right.
With Jim Day's work on the eagle, I can only imagine that there is some sort of infrastructure that he works from. I would think that includes a post that goes down into the base for support. In this case, the eagles legs are more solid than other postures, so a slender solid stiff wire wouldn't be needed, or it could be completely resin. Perhaps the bird doesn't need a really strong support because it is made from feathers, unlike a wood piece. But I would think the resin is just in the talons/feet and is formed around a pieces of wire that connects bird to base. I don't know Jim Day, I'm just guessing at that. At times, my wife builds her own legs from wrapping wires around a main wire, and various uses of solder, etc.
