Waste not – Want not!
The problem, you see, is that I hate scrap!
I design a thing…,
Gather the materials…,
Take the measurments…,
Double-check them…,
…and then finally start cutting away the bits I don’t need and putting things together.
And when I’m all done, I’ve got two things in front of me…, the finished product, and a pile of waste material.
SCRAP!
I bothers me. Even the word is unpleasant.
I don’t like throwing things away when I know, or maybe I just believe they could be used somewhere else.
And not long ago I found myself looking over my pile of scrap lumber with some annoyance. Bits of 2×4 (too small and cut at odd angles to be useful), slices of wood, shaved off here and there to makes things fit properly, a big unsightly pile of odds and ends just waiting to be used as kindling….,
Nope – Nope – Nope!
Small Solutions to big problems.
Throwing things away just seems to be the default position of the human animal these days. Looking around, that tendency is at the root of SO many of our problems, and I’ll do whatever I can to not add to those problems myself.
And so I set to fussing around in the scrap pile, determined to find a home for all of this otherwise unwanted wood.
My solution (and this, I am sure, will come as a big surprise), was a birdhouse!
A teensy – tiny – little birdhouse, something you could perhaps hang from a tree during the Yule season, or from a wreath. But also, something that speaks of warm weather and new life, and would thus be equally perfect in a spring display.
And I’ve been whittling away at that scrap pile ever since. Putting together Miniature Birdhouse Ornaments, here and there between other projects. And now, I get just a little excited when some new scrap shows up in the pile.
These miniatures are weird, quirky little things, and each has its very own personality.
I look forward to sending them off to new homes, although I do occasionally have to force myself to part with one.
Owing to their unique origins, there is no set schedule as to when they’ll show up in my shop, but I try to have some available year round. When I started making them, I really wasn’t sure anyone would be interested, but they’ve turned out to be popular little fellas. So I’ve started offering them in sets of 3 and 6.
Follow the link to check them out!
