This canary was made from the same @obscurelysmall budgerigar pattern that I used for Olly the falcon. For Olly I made a lot of modifications, but for the canary I worked pretty much straight from the pattern.
This was my first attempt at what I’m calling “glue work.” Crocheters frequently use starch and other stiffeners with things like lace angels, but this is a little different—the glue is applied to single (for feet) or multiple (for wings or tail) strands of thread to make them into a solid, stiff but slightly flexible material that can be cut to shape and molded a little bit. I had never seen this technique before but I love it as it opens up a lot of sculptural possibilities. I used @aleenesdiy Quick Dry Tacky Glue and it worked really well. (Glue in the last photo is shown right after it was applied so you can still see it, but it dries clear.)
This bird was made a few months ago, earlier in my progress toward smaller and smaller pieces. I used a size 8 crochet thread and a 1mm @tulipjapan_official hook. I bought the thread from Amazon and the exact item is no longer listed, but there are lots of packs of thread this size available in many brands. I would expect fabric stores to carry some thread this size too, as well as many online craft vendors. @wonderfilspecialtythread makes a size 8 thread called Eleganza that comes in a ton of gorgeous colors and seems to be consistently in stock, but it’s pretty expensive. I looked at this thread weight as a stop along the way to thinner threads, so I haven’t bought much of it, but it is nice to have around to try complicated things with before downsizing. Size 8 thread is about the same thickness as THREE strands from a 6-strand @dmc_embroidery embroidery thread bundle (remember that @sulkythreads 12 at cotton is about the same size as TWO such strands). You might not think this is enough to make much difference, but it really is! Also it might seem that a 1mm hook isn’t much bigger than a 0.6mm hook, but wow, does it look and feel different when you’re trying to work with it!
