WIP Birdhouse Gourd & Show update

15 years ago

I am going to visit a friend out of town for a few days, so will post this and ask for ideas on finishing the tippie top of this thing. I have tried a bell, and various gems...open to suggestions. The shoe is finally finished and ready for grout and finishing touches, then it is off to a new home. All ideas welcome....thanks. Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: WIP

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (17)

flagtruck
Original Author
15 years ago
sorry y'all...shoe update..no show. lol
texaswild
15 years ago
That is GORGEOUS!!! Love the pellets - can't find them at Walmart as someone suggested. Everything about this birdhouse is just phenomenal. Your work is just perfect every time. Betcha you'll find a finial on your trip. If not, we'll probably find something on the way to RoboMargo's next week.
Related Discussions
WIP pics
Q
Comments (8)
Thanks everyone. Yes, I grew the gourds myself. I have a few others but haven't done a lot with them. I have one other gourd birdhouse but I drilled the hole too big and so far nobody has taken residence in it. I have one I turned into a feeder as well and a few still sitting on a shelf in my garage that I haven't done anything with. Last year was the first time I'd ever grown gourds and I didn't plant a whole lot of them. I'm hooked though and have put several seeds out already and have plans to put out more. A lot of the seeds I put out are seeds from the gourds I've already worked with. I hope they grow! I also have another of the wood birdhouses DH's grandfather made. This one is the original red and white he painted it and is hanging from my cedar arbor. There's a family of finches living in it right now! I just love to watch the birds (and so do my two kitties!). Bright, we should get together and go junking some time! I'm on the NW side of Lake Norman, about 45 minutes from Charlotte. Robin
...See More
Anyone ever grow gourds?
Q
Comments (28)
Well, since I just finished scraping the last two gourds, I thought I'd give you an update to my efforts. So out of the 70, 11 (6 big ones) dried. I'm happy with that - I certainly didn't want 70, LOL. These are still in the natural state (no paint/varnish etc) A few I brought inside from the greenhouse when it started to get consistently cold. I scraped the green off and stabbed the bottom with a sharp knife to allow some drainage (I read this will hasten the drying process). The scraped ones still molded some, but I kept them near the kitchen sink and washed them every other day. I left the rest in the greenhouse to freeze and just about 10 days ago went and brought the last two in the house. I had to let them thaw for a day - frozen solid they were. Although the green had begun to dry off, I still scraped them to clean them up. By the way, after the green was scraped off, those pitted marks just turn out to be dark spots on the hard shell. So, if they're mature enough to dry, they will, regardless of where they're kept. The biggest ones dried more than the small ones. If I were to do it again, I'd pinch off all the smaller gourds once the biggest ones set and are growing well. I don't know what I'll do with the small ones, but will be making birdhouses out of the larger ones.
...See More
Shop door WIP
Q
Comments (30)
At last, I put the last piece in about noon and have been waiting for the silly cone to set up so I could stand this up for a pic.Â I hope to grout in a day or two. I'm think lt grey or white for the mirror and charcoal for the tile part. Any suggestions?Mermaid, I wish I could send you some inspiration. I am like Slow and can't sleep many hours due to ideas running around in my head. I am going to do a concrete block stand to go beside this door...so I will probably start it tomorrow. Here is a link that might be useful: Shop door finished
...See More
Birdhouse gourd
Q
Comments (22)
Thanks to all of you. Kat- Keystoning is making your tiles go around curves without leaving a big gap on the outside of the curve. Thus you cut each tile or every other tile at an angle to make the curve. Do a google on Sonia King and her new book, I think Amazon will show you an excerpt on it and it explains it better than I can. Bonnie- I have some small gourds and some with a lot of shape to them, I am going to try them also. I just cleaned two huge bushel basket gourds,they will dry today and tomorrow I will work on the insides and get them cleaned out. I have a couple neat designs already worked out for them too. I work on this one inside in between doing the yard work and working in the garage on my ceramics. Ronnie- When I clean these two big ones, I will share some seeds with you and any on the rest of you,let me know and I will share what I have. This thing is fun to do and keeps me occupied, lol, like I need some more to do.
...See More
cindiloo
15 years ago
Love the show shoe! And the gourd house is just so AWESOME!!! From the glow-in-the-dark-tiles to the crash glass to the pellets to the.....I could go on and on, it's such an amazing work! Lucky birds!
texasfern
15 years ago
I cannot wait for next year when I have some gords to work with. Great stuff!
becky_ia
15 years ago
Your shoe is stunning and the gourds fabulous! How about adding a bird to the top of the birdhouse? I found some Christmas decorations on clearance that had a red cardinal on it. I could send it to you....

Becky
Mermaid
15 years ago
Oh my oh my oh my.. those are FANTASTIC!!!! I LOVE your bird house, they are going to have a party when t hey move in. I am sure when you are gone you will think of a clever idea to top this magnificient piece!!!!!

And the shoe.. i love love that shoe.. Is it real???

have fun and cant' wait to see what else you dream up when you are gone. One of these days just gotta get to Texas and see you and Slow's place and others ..

by the way, when you are really bored, couuld you give us a small tut. on painting those tiles you did for the swap??? Thanks
flagtruck
Original Author
15 years ago
Slow-I got the pellets at WalMart in the sporting goods section by the beebees. Yes the shoe is real, I took a SA shoe and covered it with Rigid-Wrap, filled the toe with plaster, used a rasp to smooth it out and started mosaicing. I looked and looked at GW yesterday and didn't find inspiration for the top. The birdy on the top sounds cute,he would have to be weatherproof. I will probably wait until Slow and I go to the junk barn sale next week and maybe find a spindle or something.I will do the tut on painting in a week or two when I return. Just wondering how to do all the pics. I will figure it out. Thanks guys..you make my work worthwile.
litsapizza
15 years ago
Love the shoe!!! It's timeless! My mother would beg to buy that, shoes are the family business.

What is a "SA" shoe? sorry this is a silly question :)
daisyme
15 years ago
Well, Flag, you KNOW how much I enjoy your art! I learn from every picture you post, and there were wonderful things to see and learn here too! I especially enjoyed seeing your drawing of the gourd in the back ground and how it all plays out. Wonderful, as always!
cindiloo
15 years ago
LITSAPIZZA ...it took me a while to figure out some of the lingo around here....I think "sa" is salvation army.
"gw" is goodwill..."ts" is thrift store..."dh" is dear husband..."dd" dear daughter and so on. Hope that helps.
daisyme
15 years ago
Whew, Cindiloo, you even taught me some new ones. LOL The one that has me stumped is BB's. Is it bowling balls or birdbaths or just whatever the thread is following?
fiddlekate
15 years ago
Love the gourd... love that shoe, too! What a treat to see all of your wonderful projects!!!

Actually.. I think the BBs ... are actually... BBs... like you use in a BB gun. :) I think... that there are several sizes in the sporting goods dept. at W-Mart.

Safe travel, Flag! Love your work!!!
K.
stjohnsgypsy
15 years ago
I love that gourd!
daisyme
15 years ago
Flllllaaaggggggg. Where arrrrrreeeeee youuuu?

Has anyone seen her about? Slow, you must know where she is?
daisyme
15 years ago
I wrote to Flag and she wrote back. She's visiting a friend! But she's anxious to get back to her projects. She returns tomorrow I think with get this....9 bowling balls!
texaswild
15 years ago
Yeah, DAISY: That brat was supposed to go on a junkin' trip w/my friend Becky and me yesterday. (We went to Tyler to RoboMargo's annual barn sale - two hrs. from here - Margo is known on the junk side - y'all can Google her). We stopped at so many flea markets I lost count. She doesn't know (until she reads my morning email) what she missed. We left town at 7:15 am., and didn't return until 7:00ish pm w/the Jeep loaded. I was too tired to unload the Jeep last night. NINE??????????? BBs????????????????? That back garden is gonna be filled up soon, FLAG!
lovemosaics
15 years ago
Wow! OMG! that's about all I can say!!...you take the cake
for objects for sure! Wow! Amazing work!

WIP Birdhouse Gourd & Show update

Comments (17)

flagtruck
Original Author

texaswild

Related Discussions

cindiloo

texasfern

becky_ia

Mermaid

flagtruck
Original Author

litsapizza

daisyme

cindiloo

daisyme

fiddlekate

stjohnsgypsy

daisyme

daisyme

texaswild

lovemosaics

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

WIP Birdhouse Gourd & Show update

Comments (17)

flagtruckOriginal Author

Related Discussions

flagtruckOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

flagtruck
Original Author

flagtruck
Original Author