04/09/2010 - Birds Nests

This is a project I meant to start last fall and I started collecting some grass/straw stuff I found on a couple walks. This is part of a larger project I am working on, but it is for a present, so let's just focus on the nests in this post. I try to use as much recycled content as I can with my projects, but I am not sure where I would find recycled or discarded clay.

Reclaimed Material: dried straw, metal lid, plastic lid
Other Material: natural clay
Tools: scissors 

How I did it: I started with the metal lid and covered it with clay making the clay around the lip of the lid a little fatter using my hands to give the clay covered lid a nest like shape. I then took the straw and pressed it into the clay, not to firmly, just enough to make it stick. I repeated this with the plastic lid, but I had to trim the lid to the same size as the metal lid. I also had to build up the sides of the nest since there was no lip on the lid. I had to fiddle the shape of this nest a lot more. I let the nests sit to harden naturally.

What I would do differently: I still need to make a couple more of these nests so I would like to make sure I use the metal lids instead of the plastic. The metal one I used was the perfect size and the lip was perfect for the height that I wanted. I just need to collect a few more of those.