Coral Reef Mosaic Bird Bath

Coral Reef Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Now your garden birds can take a dip on a Coral Reef. There are brightly coloured tropical fish swimming against the shimmering water made with four shades of aqua blues and see greens. A bit of fun for the garden, and great for adding a splash of colour.

Tudor Rose Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Tudor Rose Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Can you smell the topiary? Hear the lute playing as you stroll round your garden? This evocative design bird bath will help transport you there. The mosaic Tudor Rose in the centre with a deep blue background with stylised leaves and buds is a lovely clean, crisp look that would suit any style of garden.

UK shoppers can shop here.

International shoppers can shop here.

Customer Commission Mosaic Bird Baths

Yorkshire Rose Mosaic Garden Bird Bath Sky Blues

Yorkshire Rose Mosaic Garden Bird Bath Team Colours

I've managed to complete a couple of customer commissions for mosaic bird baths recently. The first was a design that a couple of people had asked me to try, a Yorkshire Rose. I made the rose, but couldn't decide on a background. As soon as one of my customers saw the rose she knew exactly what background she wanted to match her favourite Yorkshire team. I also wanted to try a rose on a graduated sky blues background, so that was the second version.

Blue Sheep Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

The other customer commission for a mosaic bird bath was a lady in America who said she really liked the hedgehog designs that I do, particularly the blue one, and asked if I could try a blue sheep. So, I thought I'd try a sheep in the same layout style as the hedgehog, with the face and legs as one element and the rest of the body filling the base. A few attempts later and I got the design to where I wanted, and the customer was very happy with it too. Think I might try another version of the sheep soon.

Pastel Anemone and Peacock Jewel Bird Baths

Pastel Anemone Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Two new mosaic bird bath designs. Both came from making a shape from a tile while I was making other bird baths and then it sparking an idea for a new design. And I've got ideas for more designs from making these too. The first design is the Pastel Anemones. I've used this colour palette quite a lot lately because it looks great with the black grout. The flower centres are slightly glossy black so show well against the grout. Some of the flowers are iridescent to add metallic shine to your garden.

Peacock Jewel Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

The other new design is the Peacock Jewel. This bird bath has a slight feel of India about it with the colours used and the stylised peacock design. The jewel bit of the name refers to small squares of iridescent tiles which give the metallic shine to certain areas of the bird bath.

Butterflies and Hearts Mosaic Water Dish

Blue Butterflies or Hearts Mosaic Garden Water Dish

This was spotted by one of my eagle eyed Facebook followers when I showed a work in progress shot of this dish. I was aiming for a neat pattern of butterflies in the base of this water dish, but she thought it was showing some upside down heart shapes. It is actually a reversible design, which is great. So you can either have Blue Butterflies, or Blue Hearts as your water dish decoration.

Copper Verdigris Wirework Daisies Bird Nest Box

Sometimes, I like to do something a bit different from mosaic. I like to create effect and textures, which is sometimes hard to do with tiles. So, I make decorative wirework bird boxes. This one had a lovely brown wood stain on it already, so I thought a light whitewash would suit it, and I really wanted to make some daisy decorations that looked like they were made from copper and had the verdigris starting to happen on them. I think it turned out quite nicely.

Roses Mosaic Bird Bath

Pink Roses Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

After making a hanging heart with this new design on, I thought it would work well in a bird bath too. And it did. A few people are saying this design has a Mackintosh feel about it. I think that's the black grout I've used this time because the tiles are quite pale in colour so would get a bit lost in the usual grey I use. So, after the heart and bird bath in pink roses, I think I can feel a different colour version coming next. I love the new year. I think it's when the Xmas rush of making lots of current designs is over, and I finally get a chance to think straight, then all the new ideas I had half thought out when I was in a making frenzy come flooding out. Follow me over on Facebook to see these new ideas taking shape and get notification when they are added to my website too.

Fairground Flowers Garden Bird Nest Box

Fairground Flowers Garden Bird Nest Box

The flowers on this bird box have been handmade with wire, then hand painted with weatherproof paint in bright fairground colours of red, yellow and blues. Each flower has then been randomly attached to the bird box. This nest box is practical for the birds as it can be left in the garden all year round so can be used for nesting in the spring and for roosting out of bad weather in the winter. The bird box also makes a great garden decoration for you to look at too.

Delphinium Reflections Bird Bath

Delphinium Reflections Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

The idea of the mosaic design in this bird bath was having a spike of mixed delphinium blooms and the mini butterflies flitting around them as if they are being reflected in the water of the bird bath. The blue butterflies are iridescent and the plum butterflies are transparent to add interest and depth to the design. Each delphinium flower has a mini white daisy with a lilac centre in it's centre.

Deep Sea Mosaic Bird Bath

Deep Sea Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

I noticed something about my mosaic designs a while ago. I know I like colour and pattern, but I also noticed that my designs fell into two categories. They either look like fabric designs, or ceramic designs. This latest bird bath Deep Sea is definitely a ceramic style design. Each colour line of fish has an iridescent fish to add metallic shine and interest. The border in two colours adds depth too.

Blossom & Butterflies Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Blossom & Butterflies Mosaic Bird Bath

Blossom & Butterflies Mosaic Bird Bath

This Blossom and Butterflies design has a random pattern made with white blossom flowers, tiny blue butterflies and jade, apple and mint green leaves. I seem to either go fabric or ceramic with my mosaic designs. This one is definitely a fabric style pattern.

Relaunched Moonlight Ripple Garden Bird Bath

Moonlight Ripple Bird Bath

I put a new tile order in to my suppliers recently and discovered some new tile colours were available. A couple of them were just perfect for my Moonlight Ripple Bird Bath. I had changed the colour combination on this bird bath since the original design due to some colours being discontinued, but these new colours meant I could go back to the design being a deep blue. So I've jiggled some of the ripples around, removed a couple, added a new border colour and this is the result. Much more night sky, and moonlit water.

Mint Green Gingham Vintage Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Mint Green Gingham Vintage Mosaic Bird Bath

Something a bit different with this bird bath. I wanted a cottage, rustic, vintage, look. So I made a mint green gingham mosaic design, then I painted the rim and sides of the saucer and rubbed it back to give a distressed finish. The end design has a really nice soft vintage look to it.

Three Bee Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Three Bees Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

This latest bird bath design has come about through me wanting to use my bumblebee mosaic within a bird bath design. And wanting the design to have a slight fabric style to it. So the result is this Three Bee design. It's a very calming design with the colours used, and the circles, and flow of the design drawing the eye around it. It would make a great gift for anyone with a wildlife garden.

Jade Water Lily Pond Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Jade Water Lily Pond Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

I've been experimenting with colour palettes on my Water Lily Pond bird bath design and I've come up with a combination of matt and iridescent pastel pink with orange centres, and a jade green background made with two close shades just to give a tiny variation. It's got a lovely calm feel to it. 

I think it would suit it to any style of garden too. I could see it in a cottage garden, or in a more contemporry one too.

Feathered Friends

Peacock Eye Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

Peacock Eye Detail

There's a thread on the Folksy Forum that is aimed at kickstarting inspiration. It's a monthly theme that gets the creative juices flowing. This month's theme is right up my street. Feathered Friends. So I decided to remake one of my old designs, Peacock Eye. I've slightly tweeked the colour palette to make it more green and peacock coloured.

To see the other fab items being listed in the Feathered Friends theme thread - Click Here

There's an ongoing Pinterest board for all the themes this year - Here

NEW Free Bird and Bee Seeds

Free Birds and Bees Seeds

I am amending my bird baths, and bee log homes to show that they now come with a free packet of seeds. All with complete sowing and growing instructions.(U.K. purchases from my website and Folksy shop only, I'm afraid. The international laws on posting seeds are a bit too complicated.)

With any Bird Bath purchase there will be a free pack of 3 Dwarf Sunflower seeds (chosen to suit any size garden, and they're good for bees too, the actual variety may change with availability). The flowers are chosen produce lots of seeds that you can leave on the plants for the birds to pick off, or you can harvest the seeds and put them in a feeder, or on a bird table.

And with every Bee Log House there will be a free pack of 10 Thyme seeds. The flowers are fantastic magnets for bees, and of course the leaves are very useful for us. It's the plant that gives and gives.

If you take advantage of my Birds and Bees offer you'll get a free pack of both types of seeds. If you're buying a bird bath, or bee home as a gift you could keep the seeds as a treat for yourself, or pass them on as an extra bit of the gift.

Folksy Handmade - Birds and Bees

This week's Folksy Friday is inspired by my Birds and Bees Set, and my new Birds and Bees Deal combining a Bee Log House (that can be used by insects for overwintering in too), and a mosaic Bird Bath. So this week's list includes some of the birds and insects that the set is designed for, and which might be attracted to your garden. I'd love bullfinches in my garden, but I'm not near any woodland, or orchards, which is where they live. I've seen the rest of the gallery in my little urban garden, even the tiny wren which has a bloomin' big gob for a tiny bird. It's song is amazing for one so wee.

For more info on any of the items, click the pic to be taken to the designer's shop.

Pinterest - *** Folksy Handmade - Birds and Bees ***

Stained Glass Bee Suncatcher
Carole's Glass

Sterling Silver Pendant
Little Red Robin

Set of 4 Bird Notecards
HannahLongmuir

Bullfinch Cotton Fabric Bird
The Cotton Potter

Linen Tea Cosy
LinenTree

Birds from my Garden
Art by Juila Keen

5 x Ladybird Buttons
Make and Do

Robin
Rae Welch

Hand Embroiderd Goldfinch Brooch
Handmade and Heritage

Birds and Bees Log House and Bird Bath Set

Birds & Bees Purple Log House and Bird Bath Set

I have been thinking of combining items to make useful sets for a while. And this is the first one. It's one of my Purple Bee Log Houses combined with a matching colour Mosaic Bird Bath. Making it a Birds and Bees Set. The bird bath mosaic has a very blousy, plum-coloured chrysanthemum like flower in the centre. That's surrounded by cream tiles with a purple tiles border on the side of the saucer. The purple tiles have been left slightly proud of the rim and left ungrouted there so the light can shine through then edges, giving a lovely, lit edge effect in certain light angles. A great set to attract birds and bees to your garden. If you grow your own this is a free pest control attraction set.

Purple Bee Log House

Chrysanthemum Flower Decoration

Purple Flower Mosaic Bird Bath

New Year. New Ideas. New Designs.



Peacock Eye Mosaic Garden Bird Bath

 Here we are then, 2012.  Funny how a change in the date can kick start your mind. I feel all enthused, and I've got loads of ideas for items to make this year. Or, attempt to make in some cases, I'm not entirely sure how to make some of the mind's eye items into reality. All part of the fun of designing though.



Peacock Eye Mosaic Garden Bird Bath


My first item I've made this year was inspired by some glass pebbles that I've got. I was playing around with combinations of them when I suddenly put them into an order that reminded me of a peacock feather's eye. That then turned into creating a pallete of other colours on that theme. That then turned into arranging the design. That then turned into the Peacock Eye Mosaic Garden Bird Bath.

The design juices are flowing again.