Carved Cottonwood Bark Birdhouse


Cottonwood Hand Carved Decorative Birdhouse

Welcome to my new blog and first post.This whimsical birdhouse is my latest cottonwood bark carving. Cottonwood bark is a popular carving medium and I'm always looking for different ways to use it in my work. Although the best bark comes from the western states I have been able, so far, to find usable bark in the area in which I live. This type of carving is called deep relief because the back of the piece is not carved.

Back of birdhouse carving

The bluebird is carved from a small piece of basswood and was glued into the birdhouse opening. The carving was finished with acrylic paints, two coats of satin varnish and one coat of wax.

The carving can be purchased at:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219951825/relief-carving-decorative-birdhouse

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A Day in the Coop

I wrote this in a notebook while "babysitting" in the chicken coop on Friday 10/2/15. I'm sitting on the bottom roosting pole in the chicken coop surrounded by six curious, lively baby chicks and one cranky older hen that Robin calls "Godzilla." She's giving them the "evil eye" while scratching and digging in the bedding and tossing it around, trying to scare them. Today, they seem less frightened by her, although they are still wary and scatter if she approaches too close. They're trying to scratch in the shavings just like big chickens; some of them are even flapping up in an attempt to perch on the roosting poles. They're a little shaky, but they'll catch on. We've been watching the babies, trying to sort out individual personalities so we could give them names. Some of them were easy: Amelia Earhart--the blue Ameracauna who was trying to fly at the age of one day, and Maggie--the other blue Ameracauna, a real sweetie who k...

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Robin Arnold Art

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