Feathered Fowls: Vintage Owls

www.etsy.com/treasury/MTI5MzU1NDV8MjcyNjAzMzgzOA/owl-always-love-owls

This morning my Homco owls (5th row, right side) appeared in a charming Etsy treasury curated by Dorene of EarthLites.etsy.com. This is the owls' twelfth appearance in a treasury; they seem to appeal to many Etsians, though no one's snapped them up yet.

This put me in mind to show you one of the most unique items in all my vast and varied vintage kitsch collection. My sister-in-law found it at a garage sale in Nevada and gave it to me, knowing my penchant for the offbeat and one-of-a-kind. Take a look at this gem; I don't call this blog The Sheer Trash Roadshow for nothing!

Have you ever seen the like of this? I have puzzled and marveled over how this was made ever since I first received it because it absolutely fascinates me. What the photographs can't show is the way this little owl rotates slowly inside his pop-bottle "cage" whenever a breath of air or gentle touch sets the bottle swaying. It's uncanny, almost like having a real owl, a screech owl, for a pet. Let me try for another view:

 

 While it's plain the plastic soda bottle was cut and refastened along the line of golden rickrack, I can only imagine how the little panels were cut out so smoothly and evenly. Someone had a great little craft saw of some sort, but how did the bottle not get squashed with all the cutting? Perhaps it was filled with water and frozen first? I'd love to find directions for making one of these myself!

I guess birds are on my mind now because it's such a welcome time when they all flock back after the dreary winter months. On my recent trip to South Carolina, I was pleased to catch the occasional glimpse of a cardinal, a bird we don't have here in the Pacific Northwest, and I even got to study one long enough to figure out which call it was making. My dad would be proud; he was an avid birder and I always admired the way he could identify just about any bird call. My mom's the same; it comes from growing up on a farm in the pre-television days. Kids played outdoors and were familiar with every aspect of nature around them.

http://rlv.zcache.com/vintage_child_girl_watching_birds_in_tree_spring_poster-r4092983cffaf4cbc9440d68732a67c54_az9o3_8byvr_512.jpg

Here's a link for the cardinal, for those of you who, like myself, are a bit out of the loop as to which bird is singing what:

  www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/id 

I had another satisfying experience of the avian variety when I returned home, and my husband mentioned seeing a wren or other small brown bird hanging about a leaf-covered stump in the backyard. I slipped up carefully and discovered a small, perfect nest well hidden among the foliage. I've checked it a few times since (being careful not to frighten or disturb the mother) and it's been exciting to see the eggs appearing, one by one. There are now four eggs; I imagine the bird will begin setting (or is the correct term "incubating"?) soon. 

Oh, my goodness! I think she has begun sitting on her eggs. Just now when I crept up to take this photograph, she came rocketing out of the nest and flew off. I shall have to be very cautious about getting too close from now on. I hope I haven't scared her off permanently; surely not! That would be such a shame.

I mentioned in the last post that I was waiting for a box of vintage thrift store finds to arrive from South Carolina, and it was waiting in the post office for me yesterday. I'll try and get things photographed soon and show them to you, but I'll be out and about tomorrow so it probably won't happen until Thursday. It's always fun to rediscover the goodies one obtains while junking, especially when it's been several days since packing them up for shipping.

My fabric glue also arrived, so I'll be able to get back to purse-making soon. I'm looking forward to finishing the three I've got well underway and showing them to you.

Meanwhile, I hope you'll take a look at Dorene's Etsy shop. She makes terrific feather jewelry and fascinators--I'm sighing and languishing over these:

 www.etsy.com/listing/181942027/peacock-feather-hair-clip-fascinator

www.etsy.com/listing/171931083/peacock-feather-fascinator-long-peacock

www.etsy.com/listing/176637368/feather-fascinator-sparkle-flower-pearl