14. Using a flat topped stake to bend over the face elements.
15. creating an indentation under face elements using the curve of the flat topped stake.
16. Forming the belly on a ball stake.
17. Planishing/forming of the belly.
18. Done with the first stage, ready for annealing.
19. Second stage planishing on the back.
20. Pushing out the belly the easy way, with the hydraulic press.
21. Comparing the new shape to the previous shape, as recorded by the contour gauge.
22. Using a large ball stake to do the final forming/planishing. I decided to keep the indentation below where the belly was pushed out. It's just the right place for the owl's perch.
23. New curved-beak stake.
24. Using the new curved-beak stake to give the beak a tighter curve.
25. making that indentation for the perch deeper, using the hydraulic press, a steel punch, and a polyurethane ball.
26. Drilling out the eyes.
27. After a lot of tedious adjustment, I finally got the two halves to fit together properly. Now I have to figure out how to attach the two together, and what to do for a perch.
28. Attaching the two halves: I found that all I had to do was put some silver solder on either side at the tail end, and because of the way it fits at the top end, that's all it needs.