As promised, I’ve got more birdhouses to share with you! This time I thought I’d demonstrate the fact that you can often get two good birdhouses out of one book.
Both of the birdhouses you see here were made using an F&G for The Sky’s the Limit: Stories of Discoveries by Women and Girls, written by Catherine Thimmesh and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin, 2004 — I’ve been holding on this F&G for a long time!). I’ve always been a huge fan of the collage illustrations Melissa created for both this book and Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women (also written by Catherine Thimmesh and published by Houghton Mifflin).
There were so many wonderful pages to work with in this book that I easily found enough material to cover two birdhouses. One is now the property of my best friend, Elizabeth. She’s a former women’s college biology major — now a doctor — so I knew this would make a perfect gift for her. And the other one made the perfect gift for… me! (Don’t I deserve to keep at least one or two of the birdhouses I make?)
First, a few shots of Elizabeth’s “Discoveries” birdhouse…
front
left
Here’s a better shot of the Jean Fritz quote on that side:
back
right
now, a few shots of the “Discoveries” birdhouse that belongs to ME!
front
left
Quote from Susanne K. Langer:
back
right
Are you making your own bookish birdhouses yet? If so, I’d love to hear how they’re turning out!
You’ll find my previous bookish birdhouse posts here (3/24/10), here (2/24/09), and here (1/29/09).
Very pretty!!! makes me want to build one!
Apologies if this is posted twice; it didn’t seem to go through the first time. Ahem…Alison! These are the coolest birdhouses ever! You have inspired me to make birdhouses from my books, which is a natural since one is about houses and the other is about an artist who loved to paint birds. Before I begin, one question: do you put your birdhouses outside and, if so, how do you weatherproof them? Thanks! ~ Hester
Makes me want to buy that book!
Heather, I don’t put my birdhouses outside. They definitely aren’t designed to withstand the elements! If you started with a substantial birdhouse base (one much sturdier than the $5 birdhouse I typically purchase from Michael’s or A. C. Moore), and finished by coating the whole thing with non-yellowing polyurethane or resin, that *might* do the trick, but as I haven’t tried using either, I can’t say for sure that that would be an ideal solution. I keep thinking I ought to try polyurethane on one, just as a general protectant at least, but I’ve been too charmed by the ones I’ve made so far to run the risk of ruining them! Will have to make a “dud” birdhouse just for the sake of experimenting. If I do I’ll report back with the results!
These are wonderful, thanks for sharing!
WOW! (That’s just about all she could say . . . ) You are amazingly creative and talented, Alison! What an honor to have one’s book made into a such a unique piece of art. Thanks!