Unicorn Bird Bath – Recycled Magic for the Garden

Some items around the place have a final destination that doesn’t include auctions, charity stores, selling or landfill. For instance this kids horse bike was found in one of the clearances. It used to be Mrs PP’s and I remember having similar in my childhood. It was used by our boys and a combination of its age and our boys (mainly our boys) resulted in a worn and broke down toy.

I was convinced it was destined for further greatness, despite its recent faults and didn’t just want to send it to landfill.  One day I got it in a flash of inspiration. So over the summer, with 10 minutes here and there, it got a make-over. I had made a small sketch of what I planned the finished piece to look like and decided to make it into a unicorn to add a little more magic, which I accomplished with paper clay.

1. I removed the wheels that it still had and other extra pieces. Some were sawn off to give it a proper horse shape, instead of its bike bits. The holes were patched up with either plaster or paper clay depending on the size and it was fixed to the newly resurrected bird bath which also needed a new lease of life.
2. Then it got a good coating of bondcrete. I had an old bottle laying around which needed using before it dried out completely. While still wet it got a hand cast smattering of coarse sand to give it a sandstone appearance. Towards the end of the bondcrete I ended up mixing sand into it to make sure crevices got some coverage too.
3. Then it was painted over with a mix of spare paint and a little more bondcrete to really seal it off and weather-proof the whole bird bath.

The day I installed this bird bath out the front of our house I went out the front later in the day to see a young girl, probably about six, over at the park standing with arms crossed and a very serious stare fixed towards my direction. I was getting rather self conscious when I realised she had spotted the Unicorn – which is partly camouflaged against the white of the house when the house is viewed straight on.

There is more of this kind of stuff to come . . .