Guest Blog Post: Coffee, Birds and Mosaics by Emma Abel

Hello fellow Bird friendly coffee drinkers, I’m Emma, a wildlife Mosaicist / Coffee lover!

My little business abelmosaics specialises in endangered wildlife, aiming to give species “on the brink” a small platform through exhibitions around UK.    It’s a great challenge to fashion beaks, feathers and fur in glass, ceramic, marble and more, blending colours with precision to recreate beauty and fragility, without a paintbrush in sight…   

Bird & Wild – when I discovered their wonderful support for South American migratory birds through prioritising coffee sourced from Forest Farms, I was hooked!  First up, the only coffee I now buy is … Bird & Wild.   Second priority – to mosaic one of the 31 critically endangered birds whose home is in Bird & Wild coffee growing regions of Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico and Nicaragua.    Introducing the Sira Curassow from Peru …      www.ExplorationSira.com or www.birdLifeInternational.com

The Sira Curassow (Pauxi koepckeae) is currently taking shape in my Studio!  What a stunning bird – up to 95cm in length with pale blue casque, bright red beak, gorgeous black plumage with hues of royal blue/teal and long slender legs.  It’s only found in Cerros del Sira, central Peru - a tropical habitat in moist, montane cloud forest and is threatened by habitat destruction due to non-timber crops, livestock farming, oil & gas drilling, mining, roads, logging.  It’s also hunted for meat.   Population c. less than 250.

I’d like to share some images of Sira Curassow Mosaic to date –

1. glass fusion process – tesserae to be made into legs
2. shaping the casque, glass fusion beak
3. feathers

That’s it for now, more updates soon.

Discover my work at www.abelmosaics.com         @abelmosaics