Ive made two eagles as seen the "mother bird" standing 16" tall with a 32" wing span took 40 hours to make the "baby bird" standing 10" tall (wingspan unknown) took 15 hour to make

Step 1:

The materials needed to make this are:

A pair of needle nose pliers ( i used welpers)

a sheet of 16 gage(1/16") metal preference mild steel thats cold rolled because its easier to work with

(1) 6x6 1/4" mild steel plate

(1) 1/4" rod 16" long or more

A box of silicone bronze brazing rods

And a Tig welder with PPE

Step 2: 3D Eagle Sculpture

Start with Makeing a supportive base with 1/4" steel plating of any size (depends on how big you desire the finished product to be) i used a 6x6 plate and a rod diameter doesn't matter,pref of 1/4", yet it should be around 16" tall. Then start a filler metal skeleton as a shape base. to make the "Rock base" basically tack the filler metal to all corners of the plate and in between corners then tack them to the center rod. you could make and base for the bird to stand on it all depends what you desire. I encourage uniqueness

Step 3:

After you have a basic skeleton begin to plate it together. Using the 16 gage sheet metal measure the length between two filler metal rods on the top and bottom it should create a triangular shape. mark it out on the sheet with soap stone and cut it. overlay the pieces on top of the filler metal rods and tack in place after completely wrapping the base weld the joints together and grind flush

Step 4:

once the base is pieced together you can deform it to make it appear more rough as if its a rock or keep it smooth. if you wish to make it look as a rock simply take a hammer with a rounded head to the metal until you are satisfied with the finished piece. try not to strike where the skeleton or welds are they should overlay eachother

Step 5:

Next make another skeletal structure for the bird out of filler metal. to make this skeleton make a smaller filler metal ring about the diameter of 1 1/4" and at the bottom of closest to the rock base. then make a bigger ring 3/4 the way up the rod with a diameter of roughly 5" then run four or more rods connecting the two rings for a place to attatch feathers.

Step 6:

Cut out a wavy design with one flat edge on a cnc machine then begin to wrap the feather plating around the skeleton starting from the bottom working your way up. Be sure to run low amperage with DCEN or you risk melting the sheet metal and rod

Step 7:

as you work your way up bend the "feathers" to give them a wave like look using the welpers i simply bent individual feathers inwards and outwars at random with a curve or multiple curves in each feather

Step 8:

make a cap on the top with a circle design with a wave design cut out of the outside edge with a center hole big enough for the center rod to slide thru you should make 3 or more sizes of this cap for a better look biggest being on the bottom

Step 9:

cut out two wing bases then cut a verticle slot for them to slide in you should bend the wings or roll them to build character tack the wing in place as close to center rod and to all available feathers that overlap the wing

Step 10:

plate both sides of the wings starting from the bottom up just like the body

Step 11:

finally make a end cap for both wings where the jagged edge goes over both sides and tack from the bottom and bend downwards to hide welds. the last piece that should be placed is the head and welded into place i took two flat pieces of the same cut out design and bent them into a round form then filled the gap on the top of the head