Scrap N Grow

Good morning everyone!  How is your weekend going?  I am still battling my summer crud.  You would think I would begin to feel better after nearly a week of this.  Sick or not, I am determined to carry on as I have looming deadlines to meet this week. But first, I wanted to share a project I recently finished, an ostrich egg bird house.

Ostrich Egg Bird House

Earlier this spring, a dental patient of mine had gifted me several ostrich eggs.  Back in April, I experimented using various mediums on the outer surface of the shell. Click here to view that post.  Today’s project goal was really a personal challenge, to see if I could somehow re purpose an ostrich egg into a bird house.  I feel that I was successful and am pleased with the results. See the close ups below. All pictures can be clicked on for larger view.

Close Up of Ostrich Egg Bird House Bird Nest

Close Up Of Ostrich Egg Bird House Sign

Close Up Of Ostrich Egg Bird House Roof

Ostrich Egg Bird House Back View

Supplies Used:

Ostrich Egg

Roof: Balsa Wood purchased from Michael’s

Utility Knife and Ruler

E6000 Adhesive

6X6 Woodgrain Crafter’s Workshop Stencil

Windsor and Newton Acrylic Paint Raw Umber and Vandyke Brown

Liquitex Light Modeling Paste

Sign: Stampendous Clear Stamp Set- Nest Egg

Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger

Walnut Stain Distress Ink for the edges

Screw Eye and Jump Ring from Tim Holtz’s Ideology Line

Scrap of Brown Card Stock

Nest: Bird Nest with Eggs came from my stash.  I added an assortment of  Twigs, Excelsior, String, Dried Leaves, and Feathers (Michael’s)

Bird: Purchased from Michael’s

Assembly: Everything was pretty straight forward  to create and assemble. I would like to comment about using E6000 adhesive. I used E6000 adhesive to adhere the roof top and the base to the ostrich egg because the product claims that it can bond anything together.  I agree, but one should note that E6000 has a profound odor and definitely would recommend to work with this adhesive in a well ventilated area.  The one drawback I found with E6000 is its drying time.  Until my adhesive initially set, I found that I needed to prop up things around the house to help ensure that the roof top dried in the right place as it seemed to want to slide back wards at an angle.  Same thing for the placement of the egg to the base, I surrounded the egg with props to ensure the correct placement of the egg on the base. I think the drying time is dependant upon your climate and for my are, it took a good day to dry.

I intended for this bird house to be purely decorative and am going to give it to the wonderful dental patient who gifted me a nice supply of ostrich eggs.  I think she will appreciate seeing her eggs transformed into works of art.

I encourage you leave me a comment and/or questions you may have about my ostrich egg birdhouse.  Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you will come back again.

Michelle