Tutorial: Coffeepot Birdhouse

 I was looking for something in my mom's garage today, 

and came upon something that I made for her over FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.
It was a product that I made and sold in my small home decor store and at street markets...

Birdhouses made from Vintage Coffee & Tea Pots!

The perch is a silver spoon - and the lid lifts off for cleaning!

It's a simple project for a darling accent for a yard or patio, and makes a great gift.

 Vintage Coffeepot Birdhouse Tutorial

Supplies Needed:
aluminum coffee or teapot (vintage or new)
one tea or soup spoon (stainless steel)

one 18" length of baling wire
one small screw & nut
steel wool

drill with small bit and 1 1/4" hole bit

screwdriver . needle nose pliers

1. Drill a hole in the front of the coffee / tea pot body using the 1 1/4" hole bit on the drill.

Use the steel wool to sand / soften the sharp edges of the hole. 

2. Bend the spoon just below the 'bowl' so that the bowl angles down at a 90 degree angle.

From the inside of the coffee pot, put the spoon handle through the 1 1/4" hole,

place the bowl of the spoon up against the pot wall, 

and drill a small hole through both surfaces using the small bit.
 

Attach using small screw, with nut on the inside to secure, to form the perch.
[OPTIONAL: hot glue the spoon into place!]

You must bend the spoon before attaching to the pot.

3. Drill two small holes @ 1/2 inch apart above the pot handle using the small bit.
These should be on the body of the pot - NOT on the lid.
Feed the bottom 4" of the baling wire through the upper hole, into the pot, then out the other hole.

Use the needle nose pliers to curl the end of the wire around the screwdriver shaft to create a curlicue.
[this prevents the wire from slipping back through the holes]

4. Drill one small hole above the pot spout using the small bit.
Feed the bottom of the other end of the baling wire down into the hole, and out the spout -

this causes the middle of the wire to create a U-shaped loop over the top of the pot.

Use the needle nose pliers to curl the end of the wire around the screwdriver shaft to create a curlicue.
Bend it upward to look like steam escaping the spout!

Remove the lid at the end of the season to clean out the birdhouse - 

just rinse and dry!

You might want to name the birds who nest here

Starbuck, Peet, or even Juan Valdez...
__________________________________________

Nesting

i'm going to share a little secret with you:

i accidentally discovered a 'Fast, Cheap, & Easy' TM way to make realistic bird nests!

one day while weeding some flowerbeds,

i grabbed a handful of [dead] daylily foliage right outta' the ground. just yanked it up.

it was in my hand and i looked at it, and then...

 i held onto one end, and wrapped the length of it around my hand a few times.

when i got to the other end, i tucked it into the wound-up stuff.

[don't you love the technical terms i use?!]

and even though it sort of looked like a donut,

i thought 'yep, it looks like a nest!'

... and i carried it inside and sat it in the bowl you see in the photo above.

i added some vintage fabric flowers and a ceramic bird, and three white stones as 'eggs'.

nothin' fancy. i liked the way it looked.

 so i went outside and i made more!
[my flowerbeds were SO clean when i was done...]

and when i later decided to make these nests to SELL, i added stuff to the nests:

 * papier mache' eggs sit on a bit of moss glued to the nest as a bottom,

accented by a strip of vintage sheet music and a tiny dried stock blossom.

* a bed of moss holds a nest and a faux bird inside an armillary sphere lamp base

*a small nest sits atop a pedestal bowl, topped with another faux bird and a clear glass lamp globe

* miniscule nests sit inside glass salt cellars, adorned with vintage fabric millinery flowers and book clippings

[these would be fabulous place markers at an Easter table!]

* i've also used the bitsy ones as adornments on packages
[as seen in holiday issues of 

Creating Vintage Charm & FOLK Magazines]


* a HUGE nest in a display at a vintage show holds pretty lemons from the nearby trees,
covered with a rusted wire garden planter as a 'dome'
[this nest started out much neater.. it was handled a LOT that day!]

you can do this! 

try it using raffia. or field grass. or beach grass.

or daylily foliage. i've even used daffodil foliage.

 and my flowerbeds? they have never looked better! ;)