A Big Birdbath

I’ve been making a big Birdbath – certainly big for me, in fact I think it is the largest one I’ve ever carved.  At just over 4 feet square, the top took quite a lot of chiseling out.  Here I’m making the bowl shape which will be filled with water for the birds to splosh around in and do their preening.  All the little grooves you can see are marks from the claw chisel and I’ll leave these when I’ve made the dish deep enough, as a contrast to the smooth top surface.

One of the lovely benefits of having a large area for the water in the birdbath, is the quite stunning way it reflects the surroundings.  I’m amazed to see here at my workshop all the trees shown back to me mirror-like.  They are many hundred yards away, and yet become re-formed perfectly on the water’s surface.

The area of the garden where the birdbath is going is surrounded by trees and mature bushes, and as the birdbath is fairly low to the ground, it will create this wonderful reflective feature there too.

I’ve also made two small stone birds to sit on the edge of the birdbath – and am undecided about how they look best, on each corner, or sitting together.  I was so busy moving them about and contemplating, that I completely missed a Robin who came down to investigate – just saw him flying off (after leaving his dropping mark of course!)

I’ve scrubbed it all clean again, and got it packed up ready and out of harm’s way – the geese were taking far too much interest in it for my liking – I think they thought I’d made it specially for them!