Friday, May 6, 2011

a little birdcage {tutorial}


Do you remember this sweet little birdhouse? I bet you thought I forgot about it, right?!

Well, I didn't!:)

Here is a quick run down of how I put the cage part together.

I used 2 different sizes of wire..a really thick pliable wire, and a really thin floral wire. I did find both in the flower section of Jo-Ann's. I also used some sort of a floral frame for the bottom circle...again, found at Jo-Ann's. It is a bigger circle with a smaller circle in the middle (and some wires connecting it)..I wanted an opening to put the birds in, so this is what I used. (You can see it in the last picture, at the bottom of the post, with the ruffles)

I started out with the form lying down and placing 12 wires around the circle. Make sure the wires are all long enough for how high your want your birdcage to be...you can always trim!
I then made about a 2 1/2 inch circle for the top and brought the wires up 2 at a time (opposite from each other to balance it out)...until all the wires were up.

Next I took the thick wire and put it around the outside of the frame...in 3 even increments.. 
I then went back with the small wire and again, went around it 3 more times in a weaving pattern.



When I was done with this, I took the small wire and wrapped it around each touching point..yes, this took a long time..but the birdcage is ONE STURDY birdcage!:)

I finished up by adding a small circle at the top, putting a crossbar in the middle of it (the birds needed somewhere to sit!). I spray painted the cage yellow and once it was dried, added ruffles at the bottom (hot glued on), and a strip of ruffles at the top will act as the hanger. 


So here it is:
Perfect? NO!..but filled with character and whimsy..100%!

Detail of the ruffle...and you can see the form I used for the bottom best in this picture:


And lastly to make the birds..I used a pattern from this book (see you can see the little guy on the front):

I altered the pattern a bit..and made it bigger than it was in the book, but it was super simple to make and had 2 made up in no time!  Find the book HERE.

Didn't they turn out so sweet:
And yes, the names chosen were Bubbi and Boo! 

If this was your name suggestion, email me at kikicreates at gmail dot com with your address and I will send you off a little surprise!

Whew! Did you stay this whole time?! :)

I just hung the birdcage in my daughter's room..and it looks SO fun. (I am redecorating it all right now and will hopefully have pics up soon!)

Thanks for stopping by.

9 comments:

Sara&Eva said...

wow,it looks very difficult..but i like this project :)

Jenn said...

What a cute project! I love those ruffles and the little birds!

BluBabesCreate said...

Darling!

Ali Richardson said...

I love this so much!! I'm in th eprocess of making something sort of similar, but your is WAY cuter! Great job :)

Boden said...

Cool! Great idea, and I love the whimsy of it all! I'd love for you to stop by my blog sometime, www.icantstopcrafting.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

super cute! would look adorable hanging in a girl's room or for a shower or even a wedding! love it!! thanks for the tutorial!

purejoy said...

not sure if i have it in me, but i'm thinking this would make a fun little apartment warming gift to my daughter in the fall. she's moving apartments before fall semester at the university of alabama. looks like a fun {and slightly tedious} project. but worth it!

Jenny Holiday & Aaron said...

Hooray for Pinterest...because that is how I found you and your super fun blog!! :) I had followed a link to your printable ruffles.

This is the sweetest cage! Ahh!! love love! Sooo making one!! Thanks bunches for sharing!!

So happy to have found you..I'll be visiting often. :) Visit me anytime as well.

Happy Summer!
xo Jenny

Alicia said...

NO SE PUEDE SER MAS PRECIOSO..ME ENCANTA,

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