Upcycled Bird Feeder

This is one of those projects that you start by pulling something out of your donation boxes with the thought that you could make something new with it but not quite sure what.  Months later it goes back in the donation boxes, just to be pulled out again because you just know you could upcycle this into something really cool.  Then it sits in the closet for another year because you finally figured out what to make but just don’t get around to it!  This is how after two years of pulling this candle holder out of the donation boxes, I finally got around to making an upcycled bird feeder with it.

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I purchased this votive candle holder years ago from an at home PartyLite® party.  Remember those?  They were so popular around 15 or more years ago and I know I have owned this candle holder for at least that long if not longer.  The architectural look of it is what I liked so much.  Not so much the tiny little votive glass holders that were hard to light the candle in or clean out.

Probably one of the reasons I stopped using it.  But still liked the details of it enough not to throw it away.

 

 

And yes it sat in a box in my closet for a really long time before landing in the donation boxes just to be pulled out again.  And again.

I have to admit I have several projects or items just like this one.

Last summer I actually figured out that it would make an adorable bird feeder but didn’t find the small bowls until this year at Dollar Tree that would fit perfectly in the candle holders.  The architectural details of the back panel will be a great addition to our garden decor as well.

So I finally made it into this upcycled bird feeder..

 

Upcycled Bird Feeder

The first thing I did was to clean it up and make sure I still had all of the pieces and parts to the candle holder.  The votive holders are removable and the entire thing hangs either vertical or horizontal.  Another great win for this project.

 

 

Last summer I made this adorable DIY Upcycled Bird Bath from an old plant stand and a clay pot.  I liked the color so well in the garden that I  decided to make the bird feeder in the same bright yellow.  I gave the entire candle holder and small candle holder pieces three coats of spray paint in Rust-Oleum American Accents Spray Paint in Sun Yellow.

 

 

The spray paint was allowed to dry for an hour between each coat and then overnight for the final coat.  The second day, I gave every piece a coat of Rust-Oleum Triple Thick High Gloss Glaze to protect the paint in the weather.  This too was allowed to dry and harden overnight.

 

 

Then I spent 3 days hunting for my tube of glue. No kidding! My craft room got cleaned up in the process.  I finally found the tube of E6000 glue in a kitchen junk drawer by accident.  If it hadn’t been raining outside during this time I would have just driven to the store for a new tube, but I figured I couldn’t work on it in rainy weather anyway so I would just look for my tube of glue whenever I thought of it during those days.

 

 

To attach the small glass bowls from the Dollar Tree to the metal holders, I applied a layer of the E6000 glue to the inside of the metal ring on the candle holder.  The bottom of the glass bowls fit snugly inside the metal ring for a perfect solution to hold the bird seed.  These were allowed to sit overnight to make sure the glue was dry and secure.

 

 

 

 

Finally, after two weeks waiting to finish this project around the weather, I hung the upcycled bird feeder on one of the backyard fences, opposite from the placement of the bird bath, to bring the bright yellow color on both sides of the garden area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was so happy to see the birds using it just within an hour of hanging it up.  Unfortunately, I didn’t capture them in a photo but they just wouldn’t work with me on the photo shoot.

 

 

Since I used things I already had on hand for this project, the only money I really spent was the $1 at Dollar Tree for the stack of 4 glass bowls.  And got a project out of my donation boxes.

 

Until the next project,

“God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:13