Petrified Bird

This small piece was almost an afterthought. I purchased a piece of petrified wood while in Utah, it looked like a section of a branch. I popped a hole into it and placed a small bird head poking out. The hardest part was carving such a small bird head! And to contrast the snowy white I added two dark slate eyes, which worked out well. Because the marble white looked odd for a bird head, I experimented with dying the stone and wound up using a food color wash to give him a more bird-like color (the bird below was before the color). I also highlighted some of the beak lines by finely sanding the black slate and dropping it over the lines that were filled with superglue. So yes, the dark highlight is actually stone.

3.5 out of 5. Wish I had made the hole slightly bigger.

Petrified wood, marble. Approx 4” H x 2” Dia.