FlockA2s - birds of a feather

In my last post you had a little sneak peak at my new Flying Star Toy - FlockA2s. I though I had better tell you something about them now that the secret is out.

FlockA2s are a toy based on the famous Australian bird, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. Around us here in Sandgate we have a large local flock of a smaller variety of cockatoo, the Little Corella. Twice a day they fly over our house making a big racket with their noisy screeching, but I don't mind as these are Australian sounds and I love them. It was while listening to an afternoon fly over when I suddenly conceived of the design for this toy, I went straight into the studio and started working on the prototype.

The body is made of a beautiful white cotton/linen, while its crest has a selection of five delicious colours made from some very select cotton and silk fabric. The blue rim around the eyes is a hand-dyed wool felt that my mother makes and sells, and the beak is also a wool blended felt. They are fully lined and they are weighted to stand independently. The wing detail is stitched all the way around the back of the body with four different coloured "Flower" threads to get just the right subtle combination and texture.


I've called them FlockA2s because corellas are always in big flocks and because parrots like cockatoos and galahs mate for life and always travel with their partner. I fondly remember how social and kind they are to other cockatoos, as my neighbour used to have one caged on their back veranda, every afternoon a group of wild cockatoo would come to visit their friend in the cage. They would whoop around, call out and put their beaks together and "talk" happily for ages before the sunset. I like to think that my FlockA2s are that way too.

Tags: FlockA2s, cockatoo, corella, toys, folk art, Flying star Toys, softies, Windbag and Thunder, windbagandthunder, Florence Forrest