Materials: Ikea Bigarra Candle Dish, 3, 4' wood dowels
Description: I bought the Bigarra Candle Dish to use as a - GASP - candle dish.
A few days later I began thinking about making a birdbath
from scratch because most of them are either too expensive or too ugly. Oftentimes, they are both. Realized the candle dish was the perfect shape and size for the sleek/organic look that I wanted. Ta Da!
Just hammer the dowels at least 12" into the ground. Use a level to make sure they're even and place the dish on top.
Full instructions on staining dowels etc.
~ Karen Bertelsen, Ontario, Canada
I really like it :-) Love the fantastic, innovative, but simple stuff people do on this site. I will have to keep this one in mind when I move into a place with a yard!
ReplyDeleteThis is a work of art in your unbelievable, elegant garden. Your landscaping talents are very obvious, with the mixture of leaf shapes and sizes and textures. You should share more pictures of your garden on a landscaping site! So talented you must be a pro!
ReplyDeleteI like it, but am concerned about the dish on the dowels taking a header if birds get too 'excited' in it or if another animal runs into the poles (such as a squirrel, or in my backyard, a red fox). How stable is this?
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous! This birdbath is very, very stable. That's why I suggest you get extra long dowels. Mine are 7/8th inches so they're also quite thick. Like a broom handle. At LEAST a foot needs to be hammered into the ground, preferably a bit more. This thing isn't going anywhere. It doesn't sway or move at all. No headers to date. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso to the other anonymous ... thank you! You can see the rest of my garden and how I built it all myself from scratch on my site http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/backyard. I believe it's featured on other gardening sites as well but don't know the urls off hand. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't stable enough you could add a dab of silicon adhesive (window and door silicone caulking)to the end of each dowel before placing the dish on top.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - You can add silicon adhesive, but the reason I didn't do that is so the candle plate is easy to take off for cleaning. Another idea is to glue plastic caps that you would normally use for chairs to the bottom of the plate. These would then slip over the dowels. But honestly, it's very, very stable, plus there's a raised edge all on the underside of the plate so even if the plate gets knocked or shoved, there's a lip to prevent it from slipping off the dowels.
ReplyDeleteLove this! A great contemporary look.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful space very organic shape for garden, good eye you have.
ReplyDeleteI think if it fell a bird would simply fly off it. They arent stupid.
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