How to Make Sculptural Flower Bird Feeders

I recently tried making some sculptural flower bird feeders. I think they turned out pretty great – especially, because I was using recycled clay!

Here’s the way I made them:

First, roll out a slab.

2. Cut the slab into triangles, leaving the edges raw and uneven.

recycled clay slab, cut into triangles — By cutting the slab into triangles like this, you can get a lot of leaves out of one slab.

3. Make a circle of clay and place it in the slump mold first, then place the “leaves” (triangles of clay) into a low bowl –be sure to spray it with WD-40! scoring and slipping with slip made with Magic Water (see recipe by clicking here).

Place a circle of clay in the bottom of your slump mold. All leaves will be attached to this.

4. Add a center piece, texture on the leaves, four drain holes and when dry flip over and add a “stem” which can be used to attach to rebar. You can see examples of the backside of the flower in this photo.

5. After bisque firing, I used iron oxide to bring out all the texture lines before I sprayed on Cone 6 Coyote Glazes, then fired to Cone 6 sitting on the stem attached to the back of the flower. (Make sure that they will stand like this so that you can fire them without using stilts or getting glaze on your shelves.

iron oxide on bisque flowers — After bisqueing the flowers are washed with iron oxide to bring out the texture in the flowers.

There are a million ways to make these types of flowers. Do your research and come up with a plan. They are lots of fun to make and turn out great. They are also big sellers at markets!

The flowers were attached to rebar with E6000 glue and Fix-It Epoxy Putty.