Gertie's House - Primitive Birdhouse Craft

Designed by:
Country Thoughts
by Jodi Gadoury

Directions:

Palette: black oyster white burgundy rose black green lampblack white wash brandy wine hauser dark green

Cutting:

Cut all wood pieces according to pattern sheet. Thickness and type of wood is listed on each piece. Here is the fun part of this pattern. I like to refer to it as chunking the edges. This will give your piece a very primitive look. First, raise the arm of the blade on your saw. The goal is to chunk off the straight edges on all front sides. Just tilt your wood an run your piece down the blade trimming as much or as little of the edges off as you like. Use this technique on the melon only. Cut the melon rind (outside edge) first. Then cut the inside rind line next. This is important so your melon will assemble like a puzzle. Now chunk all cut edges on both the melon pieces. Don't be afraid to chunk the inside edges between the rind and the melon quite a bit. It will be painted white and you want it to show. The rind is fragile at this point, handle with care until it is assembled.

Painting:

When painting on rough pine, only coat top surface. Do not try to get into all the crevices. I use a brush but some of my customers use rollers. Once paint is dry, sand surface lightly and edges heavily. Stain back and sides first with Minwax Early American Stain. Lightly go over all the top surfaces with stain, then darker on edges.

Assembly:

Using photo for guidance, drill 2 large holes for moss accent and 2 small holes for nail perches located just below moss area.

Next you need to reattach the rind to the melon. Place pieces together as you would a puzzle and drill in 3 places down each side of inside of rind and melon piece. (see pattern) Using 20 gauge wire, secure pieces together. You may want to leave tails on your wire long for now to help secure the grapevine accent later on.

Before adding crow to your piece, scratch his wing in place using a nail. Drill 2 small holes just above wing and in center of star. Using photo for guidance, place pre-drilled crow and star on melon piece. Drill additional holes through melon so your pieces will line up correctly when wiring in place. Cut 2 pieces of wire, fold in half and insert from back to front in melon slice. Twist your wire a few times then add your star and crow. Twisting the wire first will give your piece a little dimension. Twist and curl wire ends to secure pieces.

Cut pieces of grapevine from wreath. Attach to your project by using the tails that were left long on the above wiring procedure. Trim any excess wire ends after adding grapevine. Take small amounts of spanish moss for large holes and then gently tap old nails in perches. Add sawtooth hanger to back.

Enjoy!!!   

Jodi

Country Thoughts by Jodi Gadoury

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