Ellen Edwards
Kenmore, NY

Desert Wings

When I got my supplies, I thought to myself what will I do with that camel!? After a lot of thought and many suggestions from friends, I decided to brave a 3-D project which I've never done before. I was so inspired by Jackie Hughes last year and I was just dying to try one and this contest gave me the perfect excuse!

I went on the internet to get pictures of camels and found out some camel facts as well. One of those was that camels are often referred to as desert wings as they are a major form of transportation in the desert and I thought, how perfect, since I was wondering what to do with those filigree wings. Then I thought about the fact that camels store water in their humps and wanted to incorporate that into the project and my idea was born.

I covered an upside down basket with floral foam that I carved into the shape of a camel (what a project that was!). Then I covered the whole thing with duct tape. I selected all Spectrum glass, simply because they had several shades of brown and tan that complemented each other nicely and give the piece a certain coherence. I used Spectrum System 96 glass to fuse the eyes and to fuse and slump the blanket covering the camel's hump using a mold I created myself. The flask was constructed using a small bottle that I had bought as a model. Then, I just started cutting and untold hours later "Desert Wings" was created. The hump is hinged and contains a flask of water. The whole project was quite a challenge as I essentially just made it up as I went along!

Use of materials:

Camel - Decoration on water flask

Gem and Wings - The "clasp" on the camel's blanket signifying desert wings