Sleightholm Folk Art

   Well, the heat of summer didn’t get the memo that it’s September and we’re all ready for fall, at least around here. It’s going to be over 100 degrees for the next few days and we had quite a hot weekend. That didn’t stop me from pushing forward with my epic plans for a gourd birdhouse stand though!

   On Saturday Audrey and I went to my parent’s home where they have much more of a wooded landscape and chose our branches. Big thanks to my dad who got out the saw and cleaned up some pieces for me! We got the branches home and then tried to figure out just how we were going to make this. And it went a bit like this….

 
   First, I drilled a hole through the base branch in two places where I wanted my cross limbs to go. If I were savvy, I would have then used screws on the branches secure them, but we didn’t have screws long enough, so we pushed on! I secured the cross branches to the base branch with twine. I ran the twine through the holes to keep them attached and then my husband wrapped the twine around the branches many times to make them stay more firmly. Granted, they aren’t perfectly stable (probably would have been if we’d have screws) but I’m going to consider the slight wobble as a bit of cat-proofing 😉 

   Making the gourd birdhouses was pretty easy though! Since they’re going to be outside, I just left them rough and dirty on the outside. I drilled a little hole into the round part of each gourd (more toward the stem so if a birdie does use it as a nest, it will have a nice deep base in which to build).
    Using a pocket knife, I notched a hole about the size of a quarter, which is a good size for wrens, which I read nest at a lower level and might be drawn to my birdhouse stand.

     Then, after the assembling the stand, I dug and dug and dug some more in my vegetable patch and then placed the base branch in the hole and buried it. After it was secure in the ground I ran twine through holes in the base of the gourds (some already had holes from where I had hung them on the porch last autumn, others got their hole simply by drilling it through the top) and tied them to the cross branches! And there, behold, was my gourd bird house stand!

    To entice some feathered friends into checking out the new real estate, I chopped off the head of my big dried sunflower and fastened it to the main pole.  I think next I will use an extra tree support I have to support the base branch against coming winds, rain and snow. I can’t wait to plant some sunflower and hollyhock seeds around this to make it a pretty bird-haven come next spring and summer. I love how it turned out! Sure it’s a bit wonky and crooked. It’s called folk art! And to me, ‘not perfect’ is beautiful!

  Oh!~ And in other weekend news, thanks to those of you who helped me celebrate my Autumn Gathering shop update! I am so happy that some of my originals and prints have found lovely new homes! There are still lots of pieces available though!~ Be sure to come take a look!~