A Child of Nature

It is so satisfying to work with students who are enthusiastic and appreciative. I love that this boy was completely engaged in my workshop and decided to take it to a different level, sketching his designs from the daffodils in the garden outside his classroom.


I like to see students who become immersed in the tactile sensation of paint and who are proud of their work. Some are hummingbirds, quickly finishing any task you set before them. Others are more meditative, spending an hour on each step, fully immersing themselves in the process.

I heard an award-winning teacher speak on CBC this Sunday. He said to be a good teacher you have to have a sense of gravitas about important subjects, you have to care for the students and you have to cultivate a flair for the dramatic. He also stressed the need to know your subject inside out.

One of the reasons I love teaching is the chance to explore new materials and subject matter. This was the first time I worked with gourds. It took about five months to dry them. I spent a weekend painting them with a base coat, coating the inside with beeswax, and punching holes for string.

It's a good introduction to bird feeding to make this craft. We also made pine cone feeders as well. These are usually made in winter when suet pudding is in season, but luckily my butcher had one bag of suet left in the back of his freezer. You can buy suet in bird stores, but it is almost always mixed with nuts, which cannot be used in schools because of allergies.

I used sunflower butter I made from shelled broken sunflower seeds I bought at the bird seed store mixed with sunflower oil. The students loved pouring the millet seeds over the pine cones.

We made a huge mess as usual. (I owe the custodian a bag of his favorite coffee to stay in his good books!)

If you feed the birds while they are nesting in the area they can spend more time on the nest and defend their chicks against those hungry crows.

More Work for the Birds

I have started a residency at an elementary school. We are exploring ideas on habitat and how to attract birds and insects to your school and back yard. Yesterday we made woven forms to present nesting material to the birds.

The students also made some lovely drawings. It's a very talented class and it was a pleasure to work with them. I also talked to the students about Bower Birds and they drew images of objects that would attract them to a human oriented bower. (I suggested chocolate, of course.) What did they come up with? Lots of flat screen televisions and cold, hard cash!

Gifts for the Birds

Here are some images from a workshop I did this morning on presenting nesting materials for the birds. You've probably noticed that the chickadees and crows are plucking up pieces of straw and twigs for building their nests. We made cornucopia free-form weaving sculptures to present the birds with wool.

I've been storing up natural materials in my porch for this project--some soft woolly lamb's ears leaves, lavender, amaranth twigs, fennel and hops. In fact I saw a sparrow in my hops plant today trying to free some of the dried vines.

Amaranth seeds will also provide a nice snack for some lucky birds.

All the yarn is 100 per cent wool. I also bought some raw sheep's wool to show the students how soft it is and perfect for cuddling those fragile eggs.

Some of the weaving was very delicate. The next step is to drape loose threads less than 8 inches long through the weaving so the birds can pull those out.

Here's one stuffed with raw wool.

We also deconstructed some old wool sweaters with large holes in them. (These weren't the kind you can felt.) What better way to give them a new life than to help them continue the life cycle of our song birds.

I also showed the students photos of the incredible bower birds who have an elaborate mating ritual that involves the male making a beautiful installation to attract a mate.

The male bower birds sort berries and flowers into piles to tempt the females. So we had fun creating little mini bower bird installations.


Eh voila! You can tie these into a tree for the birds to discover and pull out the stuffing. Try to hang them out of reach of the neighborhood cats!