Rebecca Ruggles

Early Bird Armature

Side view of the paper armature for the early bird sculpture.

I am building an armature for a new wall-hanging sculpture called Early Bird. Starting with a cardboard profile hot glued to two circles that will support the wall-hanging hardware. Having learned from my former projects, I need the engineer to know how the piece will hang first. I used bolts, nuts, and fender washers to anchor the hanging wire.

Cardboard profile of the early bird sculpture and areas that will rest against the wall.

Then I built out a basic wireframe using strips of poster board. The poster board was easy to curve and cut. I used hot glue to secure it to the cardboard profile.

Front view of the early bird paper armature.
Side view of the paper armature for the early bird sculpture.

With the wireframe in place, I added more poster board strips, forming a skin that fully covers the wireframe. The strips are attached with hot glue and overlap as needed. It’s amazing how quickly the creatures shape forms with this technique.

Front view of the paper strips over the cardboard armature for the early bird sculpture by artist Rebecca Ruggles.
Side view of the early bird armature built out of cardboard by artist Rebecca Ruggles.