How to Make Two-Tone Bird - Handcraft Ronghua Tutorial
In traditional Chinese culture, birds hold special significance. Cranes symbolize longevity and happiness, peacocks are seen as symbols of elegance and nobility, and sparrows represent freedom and diligence. This case uses the "sparrow" as the creative element for a Ronghua hairpin design.
Color Scheme Display
A. Making the Wings
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1. Prepare the velvet strips for the wings, fold them in half, and use tweezers to shape them into curved water droplets, forming the wings. To prevent the velvet strips from unraveling, reinforce them with white glue. Since this case creates flat-shaped wings, use a clamp to flatten the velvet strips. If a fluffy appearance is desired, do not flatten the velvet strips.
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2. Make the other wing using the same method.
B. Making the Tail
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3. Prepare three identical water droplet-shaped velvet pieces, then secure them together with silk threads. To prevent the velvet pieces from loosening, apply white glue at the junctions.
C. Making the Claws
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4. Take a piece of color-preserving copper wire, wrap one end with black silk threads, fold it in half, and continue wrapping until it reaches the desired length. Make four identical copper wires as the basic components of the claws.
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5. Use black silk threads to bind the copper wires together according to the claw shape, then use pliers to adjust the bird's claw shape. Repeat to make the other claw.
D. Making the Body
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6. Prepare two gradient-colored, plump water droplet-shaped velvet strips for the bird's body. The bird's back should have a black, gray, and black gradient, while the belly should have a black, orange, yellow, and white gradient. Note that the belly velvet strip is an inverted water droplet shape (small head, big belly), while the back velvet strip is a regular water droplet shape (big head, small belly). When making the bird's body, bind the two different-colored velvet strips together, ensuring their shapes are complementary when trimmed.
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7. Fix the two water droplet-shaped velvet strips together with silk threads at the head. Wrap the head's silk threads longer to form the beak. Apply white glue at the end to reinforce and prevent the silk threads from unraveling, then let it dry.
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8. Once dry, use pliers to cut the brass wire at the appropriate position, then fold the wire to create the bird's beak. Note that the beak is short, so do not leave the brass wire too long.
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9. Attach the claws and tail in sequence, adjusting their shape.
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10. Apply B-7000 glue to the inside of the wings and attach them to the appropriate positions on the bird's body. The two-tone bird is now complete. If desired, add eyes by gluing small black beads in place. The finished bird can adorn other suitable hairpins or be made into a standalone hairpin. I chose to fix it on a fruit-themed soft hairpin.
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11. This is the finished product.
