Flower pots, wind chimes, and bird feeders...oh my!
Aug 03 '01
The Bottom Line Paint clay pots to create charming wind chimes and bird feeders for you garden!
~*~ My inspiration~*~
My kids made wind chimes for me one year at Bible camp. They were adorable, but I hadn't even thought of writing a review on how to make them until I read Starcrossedkat's review on painting flower pots. To check out her review copy and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.epinions.com/content_1888002180#ow
Her review made me think of the wind chimes and how I had adapted the wind chimes into a bird feeder. So here we go class...um, I mean reader.
~*~Supplies for the windchime~*~
Three flower pots ~ you will need the flower pots to get progressively larger so start with the smallest one you can find (3 or 4 inches would be good) .
black rope or braided cord ~ I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but you could get it in the fishing department at Wal-Mart...it looks like the the little rope fisherman keep their fish on in the water. You could use white, but I prefer black since this project hangs outside.
two large wooden beads ~ 1inch in diameter should do the trick
paints ~ I, unlike Starcrossedkat, don't like the Apple Barrel paints. I prefer Folk Art acrylics, which are available in the craft section of Wal-Mart. You can use whatever colors you like and may want to use stencils. I'm going to describe a bumble bee pattern that I used, and if you want to replicate that then you'll need black, yellow, purple, green and white.
paint brushes~ You'll want a fine liner brush and a round brush.
spray lacquer ~ pothyurethane would be good. This is just to protect your finished project. It won't matter if you use satin finish or glossy or matte. It's up to you.
one little pom-pom bumble bee~ You can find these in the crafts department too. Just look around for a nice little accent piece to put on top of you wind chime.
hot glue or crafting glue
~*~Painting the pots~*~
After washing and drying your pots, paint them with your design. Using your round brush, paint simple purple flowers, which are just dots of paint in a circle, in a scalloped pattern around the middle of the pot. Don't forget to add the yellow center and some green "vines"...I just make a shape similar to that little tilden you see up there in the sub-headings.
Next, dip the pad of your pinky finger in yellow paint to stamp the body of the bumble bee on the pot. Put one above your ring of flowers and one below the ring, going all the way around the pot.
Now, use your liner brush and some black paint to add the stripes , the stinger, and outline the wings. You can fill in the wings with white or leave them "transparent".
Finally, add little white dots as accents on the tips of the purple flowers.
~*~Putting it together~*~
After the paint has thoroughly dried , thread your rope through the hole in the smallest pot (you want the mouth of the pot to face down when it is hung on the rope!). Tie a knot so it won't come off the rope. Add the wooden bead...paint it yellow... and tie a know below the bead so the bead won't fall off. You want the bead to hand just above the bottom rim of the pot.
Next, thread the next largest pot onto the rope so that the bottom rim hangs over the first pot. This way the pots will clang together. Once you figure out where the pot needs to be on the rope, remove it, tie a knot and re-thread the pot. The knot will keep the pot from falling completely over the first pot.
Repeat the above process with the last pot. Once you've knotted the last pot in place, tie a knot on top of the pot, add the other yellow bead , and tie a loop at the end of the rope so you can hang your wind chime.
Finally glue your little bumblebee to the rope. Hang it up in your garden and enjoy it.
~*~The Bird feeder~*~
Another variation on this project is the bird feeder. Get a clay saucer (6 to 8 inches) and a clay pot. I used the pot that was a size larger..
Paint your pot and saucer. Then thread and tie the saucer into place , right side up, at the end of the rope. Next tie the pot onto the rope, right side down, using the same technique as above, except leave enough room between the saucer and the pot for your birds to get onto the rim of the saucer. The pot will provide protection for the birdies while they munch on all the great fruits and seeds you put on the saucer.
~*~ Have fun!~*~
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Epinions.com ID:
melllyn
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Location: Alabama
Reviews written: 46
Trusted by: 30 members
About Me:
School is back, thus I am away and cannot write as much as I like.
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