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Decorating a
birdhouse with jewelry findings may seem like an outlandish idea, however,
a Google search for "decorated birdhouses" will get you a
response of over 115,000 results, and "decorative birdhouses"
will get you 825,000 more.
The options for using jewelry findings in your birdhouse design depend upon how you want your completed project to look. A handful of craft and jewelry components and some simple tools mixed with your imagination are all that are needed to create a stunning birdhouse ready to add charm and beauty to any garden area. |
An example we would like offer here is named "Gilded Gingerbread" and this birdhouse was decorated and donated by Terry Twombly, of Jack Conway & Company Realtors, to the South Shore Habitat for Humanity’s annual Birdhouse Display and Sale.
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The blank birdhouse is a simple unfinished pine structure, which can be purchased at a craft store. |
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Rectangular and square filigrees were used as roofing shingles and siding. |
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Half-round "lobster trap" shaped filigree add a delicious gingerbread detail to the roof line. |
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A filigree circle highlights the opening or door to the birdhouse. Even the "front perch" has been embellished with a beautiful rolled filigree ring. |
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Few hand tools were needed, pliers, a cutting tool (Terry used tin snips), a file or grinding wheel to smooth rough-cut edges, a hammer, and some small brass pins for nailing the pieces to the structure are useful. Copper taping used in stained glass work can be placed as flashing and to cover the abutting edges of the filigrees used on corners and along the roof seam for an architectural detail.
If a less constructed look is in your mind’s eye, then this could be a tremendous opportunity to use up articles and jewelry findings, including beads, stones, and odd lengths of chain that will not be used in your jewelry designs. Mixing jewelry findings with twigs, rocks, and pine cone petals can give a rustic look to your creation.
The size and shape of your birdhouse will help determine the scale of jewelry findings you choose to use. As with jewelry designing, the ideas for decorating birdhouses are limited only by your imagination. This can be a fun family project for a rainy weekend or school vacation week, a charming Sunday school or school art project building cardinal bird houses. It is as well the type of item that can find its way into galleries, gift shops, and birding catalogs.
If you
would like to learn more about decorative birdhouses,
may we suggest you continue your search here......
For more photos of the gilded gingerbread birdhouse.