Ornamental Miniture Bird Houses

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11-15-2018, 8:18 PM
James Combs

8 Attachment(s)

Ornamental Miniture Bird Houses

Posted a shop-made ornamental birdhouse mandrel over in the "Shop Made Tools and Machines" forum and was asked to post some of the ornaments. These are for a 92 piece charity order helping fight diabetes. 52(shown) of the 92 are complete. The new mandrel was used on the last ~20 or so. Included a few full size photos that show my typical construction.

The new mandrel, for details see the Shop-made post.
Attachment 396711

The 52 completed ornaments. Number (10) is the only triple stacker(has a bottom finial) in the lot. It was one of those "opportunities" for a design change we encounter once in a while. lol:rolleyes:
Attachment 396705

Typical variation in construction. The first one with the Box Elder roof is the most dominate shape I make.
For Marvin Hasenak, who mentioned using the Breakheart Expansion mandrels, these designs do not lend themselves to Breakheart use.
Attachment 396712 Attachment 396710 Attachment 396709 Attachment 396708 Attachment 396707 Attachment 396706

Thanks for looking and all C&C is appreciated.
11-15-2018, 8:47 PM
Steve Eure

Very nice and for a worthy cause. I am a type 1 diabetic so anytime someone gives towards this dreaded disease is much appreciated. Thank you for your contribution.
Those are wonderful ornaments. Nice job on the mandrel also!
11-15-2018, 9:43 PM
Dan Bevilacqua

Those are great, James. What is the general diameter of the bodies?
11-15-2018, 9:47 PM
John K Jordan

5 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Combs

Posted a shop-made ornamental birdhouse mandrel over in the "Shop Made Tools and Machines" forum and was asked to post some of the ornaments. These are for a 92 piece charity order helping fight diabetes. 52(shown) of the 92 are complete. ...d
Thanks for looking and all C&C is appreciated.

Beautiful! (Great photos, too - I need to show these to a friend who makes a lot of ornaments.) The diabetes research is a fantastic reason to go into production!

Do they sell them in a store, on the internet, or in a particular location just near Christmas? The Knoxville club makes ornaments for the Fantasy of Trees to raise money for the local children's hospital - in each of the last couple of years our tree alone sold for around $4000. Our Crossville club also makes ornaments, sold for charity. I'm booked this year but I might be interested in making a few ornaments over the next year if you could use some help. Do they just want birdhouse ornaments or any kind of ornaments?

This is the only one I've done that I have a photo of:
Attachment 396718

But I'd love to make a few of handbell ornaments for the effort if they can use them. I'm doing a demo on these soon (after Christmas but giving people plenty of time to make some for next year!)
Attachment 396719 Attachment 396720 Attachment 396722

Do you need any wood for this effort, perhaps for next year? I process a lot of local wood and dry it - much is in smaller squares which might be useful, in sticks usually 12-15" long. I have way more wood than I can use. I looked at the map. I may be driving through KY in a few weeks to pick up a lathe.

(Hey, why does the google map for Mount Sterling look like Mini Mouse? Annexation gone wild?)
Attachment 396721

JKJ
11-16-2018, 5:16 PM
James Combs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Eure

Very nice and for a worthy cause. I am a type 1 diabetic so anytime someone gives towards this dreaded disease is much appreciated. Thank you for your contribution.
Those are wonderful ornaments. Nice job on the mandrel also!

Steve, thanks for looking and commenting. However, based on your's and other's comments I believe I may have mislead you all a little. These ornaments are actually being purchased by a female officer of a philanthropic organization, "Order of the Amaranth". The order is associated with the Masons, I believe it is their wives, mothers, sisters etc, basically the female side of the Masons. One of their main philanthropic missions is fighting diabetes. The customer(officer) emailed me about making the ornaments for her as gifts. She gives them out at meetings to other member officers of the order. When I found out that one of their focuses was supporting a cure for diabetes which my youngest Granddaughter has had since age 4-5 I offered to make them for her at more or less cost. Therefore I would go so far as call them a contribution but they are somewhat associated with fighting the disease.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Bevilacqua

Those are great, James. What is the general diameter of the bodies?

Hi Dan, Thanks for looking and the comment/question. The ornaments are small, I would say midi versus mini. The roof diameters probably range from 1-7/8" to 2-1/4". The body probably 1-1/8" to 1-1/2", they have a 1" diameter bore as the "living room" lol, which is what slips over my mandrel. The tallest is probably close to 6" with shortest maybe 4" Hope this is helpful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John K Jordan

Beautiful! (Great photos, too - I need to show these to a friend who makes a lot of ornaments.) The diabetes research is a fantastic reason to go into production!

Do they sell them in a store, on the internet, or in a particular location just near Christmas? The Knoxville club makes ornaments for the Fantasy of Trees to raise money for the local children's hospital - in each of the last couple of years our tree alone sold for around $4000. Our Crossville club also makes ornaments, sold for charity. I'm booked this year but I might be interested in making a few ornaments over the next year if you could use some help. Do they just want birdhouse ornaments or any kind of ornaments?

This is the only one I've done that I have a photo of:
Attachment 396718

But I'd love to make a few of handbell ornaments for the effort if they can use them. I'm doing a demo on these soon (after Christmas but giving people plenty of time to make some for next year!)
Attachment 396719 Attachment 396720 Attachment 396722

Do you need any wood for this effort, perhaps for next year? I process a lot of local wood and dry it - much is in smaller squares which might be useful, in sticks usually 12-15" long. I have way more wood than I can use. I looked at the map. I may be driving through KY in a few weeks to pick up a lathe.

(Hey, why does the google map for Mount Sterling look like Mini Mouse? Annexation gone wild?)
Attachment 396721

JKJ

John, thanks again for your comments as well as the pics. Please note my comments to Steve Eure above. Didn't mean to mislead anyone, I was concentrating more on the fabrication of the ornaments then what I was saying about the customer. I did give her a real price break on them though because of their focus, I only charged her $7.50 each plus shipping, basically the same price I sell to family if not a gift. They are posted in lots of places like Etsy for from $15 to even saw $100 for one. I use to sell them at a local craft outlet for $18 to $26 depending on wood species and how many species(bottom finial or not). Even though they were/are being purchased as gifts, I like to think they are helping in the fight against the disease. Again my apologies for the misleading comment.

Love the bells BTW. Really hadn't notice Mini Mouse but your right, I can see her standing right there. lol

Edit: Got wood stuck in and coming out every hidedy whole I have so no need for anymore. lol
11-16-2018, 5:40 PM
James Combs

Quote:

Originally Posted by John K Jordan

Beautiful! (Great photos, too - I need to show these to a friend who makes a lot of ornaments.)...

...I looked at the map. I may be driving through KY in a few weeks to pick up a lathe.

JKJ

My location is actually Bath County with an Owingsville, KY address. Check out 33 Wilder LN on Google or Bing maps. If you use the satellite view you can see my shop behind my house in a small subdivision off US60. You can Google "drive" past the subdivision entrance but you can't turn in to it. lol If you are in the neighbor hood feel free to stop in, I will give you the nickel tour of my shop.
11-16-2018, 8:22 PM
Dan Bevilacqua

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Combs

...

Hi Dan, Thanks for looking and the comment/question. The ornaments are small, I would say midi versus mini. The roof diameters probably range from 1-7/8" to 2-1/4". The body probably 1-1/8" to 1-1/2", they have a 1" diameter bore as the "living room" lol, which is what slips over my mandrel. The tallest is probably close to 6" with shortest maybe 4" Hope this is helpful.

...

...

...

Very helpful. Thank you.