"Dreaming" - Bird mask made with polymer clay

Do you know this kind of surreal feeling: Hey, I actually made this? 

I have it with this bird mask. 

It is made with polymer clay (Fimo classic as well as a lot of other scraps of clay I had at hand... some of it even neon yellow!). At first I used a paper template to cover with metal foil and then a first layer of polymer clay and bake it. In a second step (a step that took weeks, I just worked on it from time to time) I created the beak and added the feathers. Every single feather was cut in shape and formed onto the mask. Just a very basic and simple shape with clean lines to make a feather but because they are all different, it is working really well. 

I covered the baked mask with surface prep from Christi Friesen "Swellegant", added a first layer of black acrylic paint and then several layers of "Swellegant" silver. It will fill out little gaps and small details are lost. But that is perfect because then it looks more and more like one single piece and not a combination of different pieces. In the last coat of silver I added the darkening patina while it was still wet. After it dried I coated it at first with the sealant before I added highlights with the silver again on top. I am using this order now since I sometimes had the problem that even after waiting for several days to let the metal coat and the patina dry, if I would add new metal to highlight raised areas it would also oxidise.  

The curve of the side nicely goes into the curve of the beak. 

Just look how well it turned out with the beak and the nostrils and the tiny wee feathers around it. The beak was just smoothed out by hand before baking and I left it as it was afterwards. This has the effect that in all that irregularities the silver and patina formed their own organic pattern.