"The Birds" isn't my favorite Hitchcock film, but it's one that I remember most from my childhood because of its very basic and horrifying theme. Most Hitchcock films proceed through a thickening plot, and you have to follow along carefully to understand the story, but "The Birds" is as simple as it is perplexing with an ending that's left open for the audience to guess. It's not as much a mystery as Hitchcock's other films; the story has an almost paranormal theme. And the most foreboding scene isn't watching a woman's eyes being gouged by a bird but the quiet panic of four people in a boarded-up house as they watch and wait to see if the attacking birds will breach their fortress. It's almost as terrifying as watching (for the first time) Dorothy's house land in Oz, the quiet that follows, and the anticipation of what lies on the other side of that door.
As with the Vertigo spider, I used materials that gave the Birds spider an aged (archival) look. Tippi Hedren is printed on parchment paper that has a Modge-Podge film and black glitter edging. The bird cage is rusted. The tube beads are blues and grays; we know that if Hitchcock had filmed "The Birds" in color, we would be accosted by cloudy, dismal skies.
Materials: rusted bird cage, brass bird bead, coated paper, gray and mottled blue bugle beads, brass spacer beads, round copper beads, rusted wire
