Birds nests and Lockdown

Some friends gave me this birds nest, they found it on their driveway in Harakeke Rd. It even had one little broken egg still in it.

I really like the way the birds use whatever they have to hand in their local environment, which seems particularly relevant during the lockdown. The nests I've found and printed here at my studio, use a lot of horsehair which prints very well, as well as baling twine, hay, and leaves etc.

This nest is quite unusual because it is made mainly from feathers, and it is larger than most of the nests I've printed so far. In this process there is no drawing, no plate, just ink applied directly to the nest and printed. They are the real thing 😍 (though I do admit to a little cheating with the eggs). All the nests are technically very difficult to print, and this one was no exception. It's probably one of the most fragile I've printed. I think most printmakers would agree that this endeavour is completely nuts, but the results are worth it I think 😉

The photos show a cropped version so you can see the lush detail and inky texture, and a full size print showing the paper surround. The paper size is 350mm square, so it can be floated or mounted in a 400mmsq frame. (For those that already own a nest, all the previous nests were printed on a paper size approx. 180mm sq)

Although the edition is optimistically set at 20, the chances of the nest lasting that long are very slim. Every print is E.V. (edition variable), so the colours vary, the nest changes as it falls apart, some will have an egg and some don't. None are ever the same.