How To Pinecone Roof A Birdhouse Gourd

 

 
The Pine cone birdhouse gourd is one of my most popular birdhouses. So   I thought I would show you how I put pine cones on my gourd birdhouses one by one and believe me it is very time consuming ,fingertip's that get burnt from the hot glue, and trying to find just the right pine cone piece  to fit in the next spot ! But I still Love to do them because in the end they turn out pretty good if I do say so myself !  As you can see I start out with lots of pine cone's and finding just the right one is a search in itself. They have to be just the right length so when I cut them apart they are long enough for me to place them on the gourd to start the roof. Actually there are not a lot of places around here that I have been able to find them. Driving down some of the back roads around here if we see a tree that has pine cones on it we will stop to see if maybe just maybe they are the right ones that I use and that will work !   We have found one good place to find some but I have to get to them before they get mowed down by the side road mowers !! When I do find them you can see me walking around with my old cloth shopping bags collecting just the right ones !

Then I take them home and sit down over the garbage can and start pulling and cutting them apart. Then I start hot gluing them on one by one !

  I just keep on placing them on going all the way around the gourd until I meet up with the start of the row I just finished. Then I start another row but as you go around you will start to see that the rows will not go evenly around . The pine cone pieces won't fit in any order and as you go the spaces get smaller and then all of a sudden there will be a big empty space

 You have to piece and work your way around the bars you have placed in your gourd  for hanging up your finished birdhouse gourd. Fitting the pine cones around the round bars  you sometimes have to cut them and use a lot of half pieces and yes a lot of burnt finger tips from the hot glue trying to place those little ones.  Maybe you ask hasn't she tried tweezers ?? Yes I have but with the hot glue it is much easies to place them with my fingers then yes I may use tweezers or a tooth pick to hold  them in place for a minute until the glue dries, then on to the next one ! 

 As you can see here I have gotten past the round bars and am almost up to the top, see how the rows are all uneven ?

 Here I am at the very top of the gourd and this is by far the hardest part to finish off this is where you need all the little short pieces of the pine cone sometimes just the tip part kinda like the tip of your fingernail and believe me it is very frustrating at times and this is where I burn my fingers the most !

          

But you can see when You finally get all the way to the top of the gourd and finish the pine cones  off it looks Fantastic ! I'm really surprised by  the way they look and you can see I also add porch roofs and sometimes I add it above the windows. Now it's time to make it look like a Old English Cottage or a Fairy House or sometimes I just simply paint flowers and leaves and dragonflies, butterflies and bees ! It just all depends on what I feel like painting that day.  But I sure do like the way they have turned out no matter how frustrated I get or how many times I burn my fingers ! I get so many compliments on them and it seems like I no sooner get one done it's sold and for me that's all worth it  !!

I hope you like your look into " The Making Of A Pine Cone Roofed Birdhouse Gourd "  It takes a lot of and sometimes some tears ....
Please pop on over to my Etsy Shop  - www.etsy.com/shop/inmypaintedgarden  and take a look around. ! I do custom orders so if you don't see what you maybe looking for contact me !

You can also find my items and many more artists items  at : Shabby Lane - https://www.facebook.com/shabbylanenolensville  - Shabby Lane also has a Shop in  Historic Nolensville Tennessee - Stop in I promise there is something for everyone  !