How to Make a Birdfeeder From Glass Shades

Hello everyone

I’m posting this on my blog today more for the fact that Karen over at The Art of Doing Stuff says this is a temporary post,

and I don’t have time at present to try this & don’t want to loose it.
I liked the ideas they have for glowing orbs in Summer & Winter so want to be sure & check this one out too
Please visit their page from the link above & see what kind of goodies YOU can find!!

 

Outdoor Orbs Part II.
How to Make a Birdfeeder From Glass Shades

by Karen on June 23, 2011

 

Remember my Glowing Outdoor Orbs?  Of course you do.  They’re orbs and they glow.  Like alien testicles. Who could forget something like that.

Well I’ve come up with the Glowing Outdoor Orbs Part II.  Only the don’t glow.  So they’re the Outdoor Orbs Part II.  Only people tend not to know what an Outdoor Orb is (since I made the phrase up), so I’ve decided to change the name to White Glass Shades that Every House Used to Have But Now Doesn’t Because We all Threw Them Out Like Idiots.  And Now We Have to Buy Them From Secondhand Stores.   How’s that?

Anyhooooo back to the issue at hand.  I’m a genius and as soon as you copy what I have to show you below, you’ll feel like a genius too.  Please note, with regard to my geniusyness, it doesn’t apply to math or mathematical related problems, or numbers or decimals or anything that requires the adding or subtracting of fractions.  Or math.

The ingredients for this craft are similar to but different from those in the original Glowing Outdoor Orbs.  You still only need 2 things and it’s still incredibly easy.  I have come to understand that people LOVE the bigger projects I do, but tend to only duplicate the ones that take 10 minutes or so.  Don’t blame ya.

Here for your pleasure and limited time frame, is the 10 minute birdfeeder.

A old glass lampshade

A squiggle of rope …

A $3 contemporary hanging birdfeeder.

How to make a super-fantastic hanging birdfeeder

Gather your rope.  I happened to use 1/8th inch nylon rope.  I bought a 50′ package and it cost around $4.  There’s enough rope in that package to hang 3 or 4 birdfeeders from really high branches.

Using really thick rope would also look great.  Probably even better than the thin stuff.   I’m not sure why I bought the thinner stuff.  I’m sensing a crack in my geniusyness.

#1.  Measure twice the amount of rope as you need it to hang.   Go look at your tree branch and just guess.  When all else fails, just measure out a lot.  You can always make the rope shorter, but you can’t make it longer.  Find the middle of the rope.

#2.  Wrap the doubled up rope around the middle of your glass shade.  The looped area of the rope is the centre of it.

#3.  Pinch where the loop (centre) meets.

#4.  Tie a knot where your pinch mark is.

#5.  You now have a knot and a loop and a whole whack of excess rope.

#6.  Wrap the rope around the shade again.

#7.  Slip the excess rope through the loop, allowing the loop to rest over and lock on the knot.  You’ll probably have to undo and redo your knot to get it right.  You want it quite tight but not so tight you’ll break the shade.  Good and tight is how I would describe it.

#8.  Place a soft towel or pillow under the shade, then lift it by the rope to make sure it’s hanging straight. Fiddle with centreing the rope until it hangs right.  The towel’s there in case the shades slips out and falls.  It shouldn’t but it might. Hell, what do I know about your knot tying abilities?

#9.  Using Waterproof Silicone, glue your rope to the shade.

#10.  To make sure your rope stays centred on the shade, just run the tip of the silicone down the centre of the 2 pieces of rope.  As you run the tip down, it’ll push the two pieces aside keeping everything centred.  Go allll the way around the shade.

#11.  Pinch the rope closed again, along the glue line.

If you want to be extra diligent (I was) you can also run a bead of silicone on the outside edges of the rope.

Hey!  Wanna know why I was extra diligent??  Because the first time I did this I wasn’t and 2 of my feeders crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces.  See?  Like this.

I oringally only used “Weldbond” glue, which is supposed to adhere to glass.  Guess what?   It didn’t.  So don’t go thinking you can do this with whatever glue you have around the house.  You can’t.  You must use a silicone based product like I’ve used.  Marine silicone, tub silicone … anything like that.  Something that’s meant for use on glass and is meant to come into contact with water.  Weldbond says it does these things.  But in my experience ….

… it doesn’t.

#13.  Let the birdfeeder rest for 24 hours to dry.  Unless you’re me. In which case, run outside and hang it from the tree immediately.  Do as I say, not as I do.  You want the glue to cure before subjecting it to the elements.

Hang them & fill them with bird/chipmunk/squirrel food!

You may have noticed that there are  no pictures of birds at my birdfeeders.  That’s because I didn’t have an extra 742 hours to sit around waiting for a bird to come.  Besides it’s been raining since I hung these feeders and I haven’t seen a bird at them yet.  I’m sure they’ll come.  They always do.

Also a bit of a warning here!   I have no idea if one day the  silicone will suddenly decide it’s had enough of this and give up.  It shouldn’t. But it might.  But it really, really shouldn’t.  However, I’m warning you that I cannot take responsibility if these glass shades come crashing down onto your Golden Retriever or French Bulldog’s head.  I don’t think they will but I thought it’d be rude not to mention it’s a possibility.

Although, on account of my mathematical abilities, I wouldn’t want to put a percentage on it.  Or a fraction..