Antique Birdcage Makeover for Home Office
My friend, Jo Pearson had a fabulous garage sale earlier this year and I picked up a very unusual and large vintage birdcage from her.  

Vintage Birdcage

When I bought it, I wasn't sure where I would use it, but I found a perfect spot when I was planning my home office makeover. I needed to update the color from the federal blue to match my color scheme, Martha Stewart Crafts Vintage Decor Paint in cantaloupe and terra cotta.

Paint Supplies

I wanted to leave the metal bars, as they have a nice aged patina to them, but needed to paint all of the blue - it was a challenge getting into all of the crevices. Luckily the bottom of the cage was removable. You can't see in the picture, but it isn't solid, just wooden bars. I'm saving it for another project.

Painting over the blue

I painted the birdcage with the terra cotta chalk paint and the roof with cantaloupe. I used the antique wax over the whole piece. The roof was stenciled with cantaloupe in a scallop pattern to add more detail.

Stenciling

I dry-brushed cantaloupe on the piece to give it more dimension. It was finished by rubbing a coat of clear wax to seal and protect. 

Vintage Birdcage Upcycle for Home Office

Birdcage Fairy
    I've gotten on a series where I'm using birdcages in my art dolls. Unfortunately this is not the time of year to find birdcages. I'm either going to have to hit garage sales, flea markets or wait until spring merchandise comes in for additional cages for more dolls. The first doll is in Houston, awaiting the Treasures of the Gypsy challenge at the Houston Quilt Show.
     I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Labbe of Art-i-Cake at Michaels Leadership Conference. What a truly delightful, creative, unique and original lady! Certainly a kindred spirit of my good friend, Jo Pearson! Jo gave me one of Amy's crown pendants from the Art-i-Cake line available at Michaels and I had a couple other components in my stash as well. Amy saw pictures of some of my art dolls and appreciated them. I told her about the crown and my plans to create a doll using the crown. Here is the first doll (I got a second crown and plan on doing another one). I used additional Art-i-Cake pieces in the cage portion of the doll.


Wiring the Body

Adding sculped head

Costuming

Inside cage detail





Finished Fairy (minus wings)

Finished fairy with wings