We are so lucky to have many birds living in the woods at the bottom of our garden (including some very noisy woodpeckers, who are some of my favourites). At the moment they are happily feeding their beaky faces with the fruits of a very hot summer. But, for once, I’m ahead of the game and ready for winter with an adorable little bird feeder that I made at The Clay House at Cedar Farm a few weeks ago.
This was another new challenge for me, as whereas previous projects have been made from slabs of clay, this was made from balls pinched into shape.
It’s not terribly easy as the natural inclination of the clay is to do it’s own thing and completely ignore everything you’re asking it to do. And then it just laughs at you and collapses in on itself!
But a bit of perseverance (and the odd Anglo Saxon expletive under my breath) and I had two different sized bowls ready to join together to make my acorn shape.
The large hole above was cut out with a knife…the smaller one made with a piece of wooden dowling. The decoration to the “hat” of the acorn was also made with a knife. It started off very neatly and quite precise, and rapidly descended into boredom and random stabbing!
Which kinda worked in the end!
Coats of glazy stuff were applied. One matt, so the birds don’t slip on it, one shiny and pretty.
A bit of baking in the kiln, and voila!
Now all I need is for my resident handyman to hang it for me and we’re ready for the winter. Just not yet, thank you very much. I’m enjoying the sun too much.
That’s both lovely and useful – the birds are going to love it.
I don’t know what’s happening this year but the birds have continued to come to my bird table throughout the Summer. It’s probably due to the extremely wet start we had in June when I kept feeding them when I normally wouldn’t have. It relieves my guilt as an accidentally multiple cat owner because the bird table is on my first floor balcony at the front of the house where the birds can feel safe.
I think your random stabbing looks just right.
Birds are actually having a bit of a hard time due to the drought, so it’s a good idea to keep feeding them! They mostly need protein at the moment, so nuts and (if you can stand it) small worms like mealworms are a good idea!
I didn’t know about that, although it shouldn’t come as a surprise when you consider that the blackberry harvest is quite poor this year. I couldn’t with the mealworms, but hubby has a stronger nerve than me so we’ll bear that in mind!
I like the idea of keeping the birds safe from the cats, especially as our kittens will be able to go outside from October. We also have squirrels in the woods who would steal your eyes if your stood still long enough, so I need to keep it clear of those little minxes too.
Fabulous…love it!
Thank you, I’m pretty pleased with it.
That’s lovely Evie. My birds have to make do with the commercially made feeders – and made it very clear recently that they aren’t impressed by the new green one! Thank goodness they haven’t seen yours ?
I won’t tell if you don’t! 😉