I make birdhouses now...

I made a few clay bird houses. Figured I'd share with you. They are not finished and need more clay work and glaze for color. Mostly slapped together over a couple hours each sitting on my porch enjoying the weather.

It seems fairly easy to mold the clay compared with wax work. I may try a sculpture with oil based clay in the future.

 

You gonna field test them and see what class of bird they attract?. It'd be funny if they get some kind of weird out of state bird taking up residence.

 

I would like to see if a Bronze Bird house attracted prettier birds

Lovely work as always Zap.... I wish I had 10% of your talent!

 

Thanks! I'll see if they work next spring. It will give me time to fire them and glaze them and make mounts to hold them up. I'd like to have a good 10 to 20 random houses and out them all around. See if that attracts more birds. My dog hates birds and barks/chases them so I'm sure he's gonna have a good year next year...

Bronze birdhouses sound interesting. I'll have to give it a think.

 

To be able to "slap together" things like that!! You have a gift sir!

 

The texture on the log one is really nice. Was it done with a roller?

 

I got a piece of bark from my firewood pile and made a plaster mold of it then copied it 4x to make the house. Then I used small pieces of bark to imprint a bark texture on the joining seams. I also copied a sunflower leaf wil plaster and made the roof from that.

I'm cooking up other ideas for houses... muahahaha.

Dave, it seems wax working skills translate well to clay! Lucky me. Its much faster than working in wax but does not support itself as well as the wax so I've had to resort to balloons, buckets, bowls etc to hold the shape while the clay dries. Balloons are especially nice since you just pop them to remove when it's dry enough.

 

Pretty imaginative! I'm thinking the "old man" might not attract any, being as it has human appearing features. The others should do nicely, though. Leaving them in those natural colors would be a plus.
Removable tops for end-of-season cleaning, if you're so inclined. Just be careful about removing them when it's still warm weather. If it didn't attract a bird's nest, it might have a wasp nest in it.

Hmmmm. I wonder if you couldn't incorporate some mounting method right into the clay before firing.

Just sayin'.....Roger

 

Yes exactly! I was thinking of making an L shaped metal bracket to hold the house from underneath and from the wall. Maybe put a bolt through the clay wall and fasten with a washer inside the house to spread the pressure out.

Do you need to clean the houses out each year? I actually only thought of that after I built the log house. So that one doesn't actually come apart... I'll have to pick out the nest with tweezers lol.

I wonder about the human features thing too. Guess time will tell!

I think I'll have to glaze them with something so they are more water tight. Fired clay absorbs a lot of water and I think that would promote mold which isn't good for birds. The glaze should keep most of the water out of the walls.

 

I don't really think you need to clean them out, but it might make them more attractive to a nesting pair.
I agree on the glazing. Somthing in a matte finish, if that can be had.

This could possibly be expanded to bat houses.
(Can you say craft sales?) $$$$$$$

Roger

 

I wouldn't mind some craft sales. If I can make 2 or three a day and make a hundo off it it would be nice pocket change until my new job starts. They delayed me 2 months which is kind of annoying but also kind of nice since I can certainly use a mini summer holiday.

 

Finished the old man house. Now to see if it survives firing and glazing after it dries.

 

Have a look at this guy's birdhouses. I picked up one of his dinosaurs several years back. He charges $150-200 for each one.

 

VERY nice, Zap. Looks nicely detailed. Good luck on the firing.

Roger

 

Whats the link?

 

Sorry, brain fart http://www.douglasfeypottery.com/index.html

 

Thanks!

I like the colors he has on his houses. It can't be glaze he must air brush them. Very nice houses for sure.

I think I'm gonna make an old lady house next.

 

Man clay is so much faster than wax at molding. I'm getting some good practice for bronze sculptures. I'll definitely try out oil clay next one I do.

Only spent about 2 ish hours on this so far. This easily would have taken 10 to 15 with wax. Anyway I have most of the major features on it now. I'll let it dry a little and put some of the details on it tomorrow and build the branch for her hair.

 

Ever thought about trying Raku for the glaze?

 

Might be a good idea for some houses. Doesn't the borate dissolve in rain over time? Are raku glazes water soluble?