Nest of bones

I made a nest out of possum bones I found around the farm and on the sides of the road, then bleached and wove with willow twigs. I have a new depth to my admiration for birds now because, let me tell you its a very tricky thing to build a nest, even with ten functioning fingers. Imagine making a nest with your beak/lips!

I console myself with the thought that birds aren't usually trying to use bones for nest building, and its ok that I resorted to superglue to hold the whole thing together. Once it was the right size and shape I lined it with some of my feather collection including heron, kiwi, pukeko, peacock, and woodpigeon feathers. The eggs are kina, sea eggs, collected on the pebbley waterfront at Russell a couple of weeks ago. They were still prickley when I picked them up so I rubbed the spines off with an old toothbrush before rubber stamping a letter onto each.

The whole thing fits inside a deep square box covered with locally handmade paper that cunningly replicates the texture of sandstone. I called it 'Feathering Your Nest of Bones' and gave it as a farewell present for a friend who is moving South next week.