I did these projects long ago but this post has been sitting in drafts for months. I took a few new pictures because the other ones were either very outdated or GONE.
Almost exactly a year ago a great horned owl was caught in our barbed wire fence. A raptor rescue guy came and brought it to their place to get the wire out and then for rehab.
In the right hand picture the wire is out and the wing bandaged. The wire was stuck right in the joint- ouch! I found two feathers on the ground when I walked up the hill later. I decided I wanted to use them on my Arizona Wall in the family room.
I dug through my stockpile of frames and found a long thin one. I painted it blue and then painted the paper backing a very light blue and taped the feathers on.
I hung it on the wall and it looked pretty wimpy. I wracked my brains on how to make it look bigger. I didn't want to spend money on a new frame- plus, this one fit the feathers perfectly. Then I thought how cool it would be to back it with a weathered piece of wood. Time to go 'shopping'!
I went wandering out around behind Bill's shed. I found two pieces instead of the one wider one I wanted. Beggars can't be choosers! I gave them a good scrub- they had been half buried in mud.
Ta-dah!
I love how the wood complements the color of the feathers.
Another project I did was to spray paint a black horse.
He started out as brass but his eyes were so freaky I had to paint him. Black is the only color I could think of at the time..... This is the only picture I could find of him black:
He blended in too much with the fireplace screen and I needed/WANTED! more color.
I'm fairly certain I took pictures for 'before' and 'after', but they seem to have gotten lost. This is the only picture I had left:
It was a big OOPS. It was a breezy day and I was too impatient to wait. The rocks were now a lovely blue too. :(((( My poor husband must be inured to this kind of stuff because he said NOT ONE WORD!
But the horse managed to get some blue paint on him too!
Doesn't he look fine!