Woven Wood Sculpture Prep Before Rainy Days

It rained last night. We had huge thunderstorms most of the night. We are supposed to have a few more days of rain.

So I moved the wood that I'd cut from the backyard and placed it out on the frontyard so it would all get soaked with rain. I want the wood to be very pliable when I start weaving with it.

I took an Elm branch off of a tree so more sun would reach my raspberries and beans and will cut that up to make stakes and support beams that will hold up the birds in the nest and the bird bath. The stakes won't be visible from the outside of the sculpture. I'll brush a little linseed oil at the base these pieces of wood and then mix a little concrete and put six stakes in the ground for the foundation of the sculpture. Then I'll add interior support stakes. Those will also be painted with linseed oil and sunk into the ground a bit too. Once all of the stakes are in, I'll be read to weave.

It will probably take another two days to finish this process and the third I should be able to get most of the nest itself constructed and woven.

After that I'll be molding some chicken wire for the bird's bodies and beaks and then I'll weave wood through those. Then I'll place them on their supports and finish out the tall bird overlooking the nest. Creating the chicken wire bodies and beaks and then weaving thin branches through them will probably take another week.

During this time I'll also be planting Morning Glories, Painted Lady Snap Peas and some Everlasting. I'll be planting some of these inside the nest and some surrounding it.

Once this is all finished I'll place a large Terracotta tray in the hungry mouths of the baby birds.

Then I should be ready to finish planting all of the rest of my squash and melon seeds and vegetable seeds and flowers in the front and back yard. I'll be planting in the beds I've been working and then planting the squash and melons and corn and sunflowers on the entire front yard.

I'm approaching this project a lot like a painting. Its so exciting. When everything is in bloom its going to be crazy cool.

All righty, I need to get back to my canvas, Flow. Its looking so beautiful. And this stormy sky light is perfect for this phase of the painting.

I hope you enjoy my Coco tale. She is such a natural gardener!