first get ideas of birds from photos. then see what their sillhouette or outline would look like on paper. when you see a form that coincides with your buxus you can take next step. the shrub will need to grow out branches that you leave unpruned to fill area that will be head or wings or neck or beak. easiest way to me would be a cartoon or stick figure drawing of a bird to give better idea of shape. plump chicken comes to mind first. anyway, keep pruning tightly(often) the areas that are already in main shape of animal (the round part of body). try and look at all sides of your shrubs before any pruning, sometimes you can visualize where head or other body parts of animal will grow and look the best.
big john

Susana,

If you intend to do free form shaping try allowing some new growth to continue out from one end. This new growth will be relatively supple and can be formed with training wire. This is a coated 16-18 guage wire which you can use to tie the growth to a wire shape bent into an S-shape to resemble a neck. A coat hanger doubled onto itself will work fine. Once the hanger is covered, continued prunning will promote thicker fuller growth. An easier alternative is a aviary wire mesh cage(Chicken wire) which gives a grid surface which acts as a training aid. Hope this is helpful.

I made a swan that way, I have it at the entrance to my home . Its about 5" tall. Its some kind ofyew.Its golden in spring,feathery. I looked to decide how limbs were I could see where long neck, tail,wings would go. Wired the limbs together trimmed a little bit.a few months later I trimmed a little more. Its about 3 years old and really pretty swan. i bent the neck and head. I want to do more this year.

I love Buxus Topiarys with a passion!! And for a long time now have wanted to shape a Buxus Topiary into the shape of a corkscrew. The question is: where do I start?!! Should I start with a very young plant or is it possible to start shaping an existing Buxus Topiary?

I look forward to hearing from someone about this.

Regards, Karin.

I like the others,I have a buxus topiary plant, which is about 2ft in height, and is growing well, but I want to prune it and shape it, but the thing is I have no idea were to start.
I have the idea of a cork screw, which I read you can use chicken wire, but is it used during cutting, or is it placed into the plant were it is left to grow until covered.
Can I start now, or do I leave it grow until its the right height.
I look forward to hearing from anyone who can help me.

Boxwood is such a great plant to snip without using a frame of any kind. It is one of the few evergreens that you can hack back to bare wood and it will recover. 2' tall and this time of year are the best to start. Many people use a string to guide their shape. You would wrap the string around the plant at about a 45 degree angle up the tree and follow the line. That sounds too easy. When you make your first cut remember you are cutting the top of the corkscrew, and above that cut is the bottom of the next spin around. I always hold my pruners at the 45 degree angle. Be brave.Just start cutting. Once you are about half way around, look around the plant.Here you will have to decide how thick you want to make your corkscrew. After you made that decision, all you have to do is follow the line that you have already cut. ALWAYS!!! look around the corner to make sure your thickness is where you want it because your angle might change at some point. Hope this helps.