Garden structures

[Marion]

Last year I built this arbor from cedar and hemlock.


And yesterday I made this birdbath. I ruined a diamond tipped drill and wasted quite a bit of time before I figured out that a 5" circular diamond blade was the most efficient for the job.

[B_BQ]

Hi Maron:
Both are beautiful.
Your arbour is magnificent.
I don't know the intricacies of carving out stone, but your end result is certainly gorgeous.
~BBQ

[sboricic]

Very nice Marion. Builting the arbor must have taken some time compared to mine. Last year I did a rustic arbor that is sitting by my veggy garden. I tried to attach it but have to resize it, the picture has too many KB's.

[TrailBlaze]

Gorgeous arbour! but that birdbath is quite the labour of love. How long did it take you?

[Marion]

Cutting the hole took 3 hours but now with the right tool could likely almost cut that time in half.

[TrailBlaze]

There's a fellow out this way who carves stones like yours, and charges big bucks for them at 'Art-in-the-garden' shows. Do you have those where you live? Our area is really busy with summer outdoor art and garden shows and festivals. We even have an "Art of Being Green' festival, this weekend. There will be an electric car on display, as well as all sorts of solar stuff. It's an annual event now for 5 years.

So: pondering a supplemental retirement income for yourself with those rock birdbaths?

[Marion]

There are several summer art festivals around, none specific like you mention as far as I know. And, no, not pondering doing anymore than having fun with it. Uping the production would likely take the fun out of it for me.

[Meggylou]

Marion, could you explain to me more how you made that birdbath. My hubby is quite handy and we REALLY like it so if we had more precise instructions I'd love to try my hand at making one.
Thanks!!!
the arbour is amazing by the way, I don't think I even have an ounce of ability to make something like that.

[Marion]

This is the circular grinder I used with a 5" diamond tipped blade I picked up at Princess Auto for $11.99. Use a safety guard on your grinder...(I couldn't find mine )


I originally piled up some rocks I was reusing thinking of a water feature. Thought maybe I'd turn that big one into a pool at the top of a small water falls. The big rock at the top seemed to sit fairly level atop the combination of rocks. My aim the other day was to try to get a little pool cut into the top of the rock to hold about an inch of water for the birds.

After trying carbide tipped drill bits and a diamond tipped hole cutting bit (ruining that one)..I finally went at it with this 5" blade. You have to keep it wet so I sprayed just a bit of water on a small depression in the rock. I worked from the wet spot. First I slowly ground down a little ditch around the hole I wanted to make. As the water flows into the area you are working on you know you are starting to get it level with the rest. Gravity works with you here. It gets pretty muddy and you have to spray it out clean every few minutes so you can see what you are doing. I'd recommend setting up a plastic barrier around the project to protect nearby plants. (I didn't and the poor things needed a nice spray down when I was done). Once you get water sitting in a little ditch all around, it kind of gives a guide for eyeballing it. To take out large areas I scored down crosshatching with the blade. That enabled me to undercut horizontally afterwards and larger chunks would let go meaning less of the slower grinding work. When you score and undercut with the blade you have to be real careful to let the blade do the work and not force it too much because it can kick back if it jambs.

Once I had the entire little pool under water then I was able to just work on making the whole thing deeper. There are irregular areas (raised corner), that was just a natural part of the rock. I let it become a part of the design. My stone has a lot of sandstone in it, easier to work with than some but maybe less durable too. Granite would likely be nice and strong but also much slower going.

Feel free to PM me with questions and I could e-mail you more pictures if it would help.

It is so satisfying to see the birds discover the new play area.

[evepet]

I imagine the birds love that new play/bathing area. It's beautiful. And that arbor is great too. Looks really sturdy.