A Sculpture
to Celebrate an Unflappable Pair

SCULPTED, PHOTOGRAPHED, AND WRITTEN BY GREG ARENS

When trumpeter swans form a pair, they devote themselves to one another for life. Together they embark on vast journeys, from north to south and back again, and again, and again. In flight they take turns at the front, so the other can find respite from the draft.

Each trumpeter protects the other against danger and predation. And when they create young ones, they are fierce parents who will sacrifice all to keep their brood from harm.

Ruby flies on
a custom bent-wood frame.
When breezes blow,
she dances lifelike in
the currents, fore and aft
and side to side.

Walter and Gail Jorgensen are the same. Their journey together spans forty years, soaring through the joys and sorrows of life as an unflappable pair. Nothing—from the tragic loss of their son Ward to Gail’s victorious battle with cancer—has been able to loosen the bonds between them.

The big day. I accompanied Alison to her parents’ home on the Pine River to set up Ruby for the grand unveiling. They were overjoyed, and clearly as devoted to one another as they were forty years ago. What a pair!

Alison’s Idea

Alison Jorgensen is Walter and Gail’s daughter. As her parents’ 40th wedding anniversary approached, she thought about swans and how the birds personified their devotion to each other. She had an idea for a very special gift, and knowing that I sculpted birds—ranging from tiny hummingbirds to giant Canada geese—she asked, “Can you make my parents a swan?”

A Big Ask

After accepting Alison’s unique commission, I took a deep breath and pondered the best strategy for building a very, very, very big bird. Trumpeters, when fully mature, stretch to six and a half feet in length with a whopping seven-foot wingspan! So, I had some figuring to do before making the chips fly. My first step in creating Ruby was to imagine what she would look like when completed. Studying in-flight photos and spending time at a local trumpeter hangout on the Gull River was key to envisioning the Jorgensens’ swan. Then, I sharpened my pencil.

I’ll let the photographs tell the rest of the story.

Once I had the vision for the sculpture, I got to work drawing the wings. From these drawings, I could map out the many laminations of basswood needed to achieve the curvatures of Ruby’s massive wingspan.

Lots of glue and hours of clamping. It’s not the sexiest part of the job, but it’s critical to Ruby’s form and structural integrity.

There are wings in there somewhere.

Excitement builds as the core of Ruby’s fuselage takes shape through the bandsaw.

You gotta have fun doing what you love.

Cutting wing curves, slow and steady.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s beginning to look like a Ruby.

Roughing it in. An aggressive cutting tool on the grinder removes a lot of basswood fast.

Sockets go in before the paint; the glass eyes go in last.

Bill shaping. Please don’t screw up now!

Ruby’s realism comes from a specialized flocking technique. When the white oil enamel paint is still wet, I dust the entire bird with white, ultrafine polyester filaments called “flock” or “sueding powder.” It’s soft to the touch like real feathers, and absorbs light just as feathers do.

Trumpeters have distinct coloration along the lower bill, which I achieve with art acrylics. The top bill has a rubbery feel that transitions into a “leathery” texture where it meets the eyes. I get that texture by spot-painting the area, flocking it while the black paint is still wet, and then over-painting the flocked bill section with flat enamel.

After carving, painting, and installing the feet, they get some flocking detail where the body meets the legs.

A Sculpture to Celebrate an Unflappable Pair

Ruby flies on a custom bent-wood frame. When breezes blow, she dances lifelike in the currents, fore and aft and side to side.

I’ll let the photographs tell the rest of the story.

A Sculpture
to Celebrate an Unflappable Pair

Ruby flies on
a custom bent-wood frame.
When breezes blow,
she dances lifelike in
the currents, fore and aft
and side to side.