Feet

?Well... a peacock can't stand up without some hefty feet, so I call up my friend (and metal artist) Melissa MacDonald to see if she can help. "A peacock? ... come on over tomorrow" says Melissa cheerfully. At 10 am I take an antihistamine (I've been sick for weeks with a respiratory thing), pack up the "structure" and set off for Berkeley and a Saturday morning with Melissa. In a couple of hours, two gnarly feet emerge from Melissa's welding table and they fit right into the hollow legs! I also ask for a collar to stabilize the neck and produce Barry's drawing on the back of an envelope. With all the right drill presses and metal saws at hand, Melissa makes this piece in a matter of 15 minutes. After a quick lunch at Tomate Cafe where we catch up on each other's news, I'm set (I think), to begin covering the structure with chicken wire (sorry, Percy) and eventually fiberglass (which I've never really worked with). And also, I'll need to make some sort of structure for the tail feathers to hover over the back of the erstwhile tomato-cage peacock body. Hmmm....