Put a Bird In It!
You know how I love my upcycled chippy hippy house things. Our hoard o’ vintage surely is destined for: Art. I also love birdhouses — so sculptural… and useful. Put vintage + birdhouses together and you get: Clever upcycled birdhouse creations from Brian Carlisle aka GadgetSponge on etsy.com. I asked Brian some questions about his birdhouses and bird feeders, so that I could show lots of pictures and Get Inspired.
I’ve been creating the upcycled birdhouses and bird feeders for almost a year and a half now. It all started with a vintage copper coal bin. The handle, the front handle, the slope of what would be a roof all began to come together in my head and I just went with it!
My professional background is Graphic Design (for almost 20 years now). It definitely helps with the creative side of things. I’ve got lots of tools in general, but my background of stained glass work also helped get things rolling with the soldering of the materials.
My garage is by definition “a hoarding nightmare”! At least once every couple of weeks, I’ve got to stop and unhappy clean the whole area back up to have a cleansurface and area to start over with. I find most of my parts, pieces and general junk through family and friends out and about coming across things, garage and estate sales, and antiques/collectibles stores.
The upcycled birdhouses I create are actually livable as long as the new owner keeps them out of direct sunlight (hot summer) and out of cold, exposed winds (winter). But, honestly, most of my customers look at me like I’m crazy when I ask where they are going to put them outside. Most are used for decorations and accents around their homes.
These are just so cool — and the last photo is just a small example of Brian’s bird photography. One talented guy! Thank you, Brian!
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