An easy way to find them is to Google the following:
Copper Creations Ebay
http://tinyurl.com/6zrtkz
Bingo. Don'tcha just love Google? I must use it thirty times a day at least.
Every day.
:-) KM
Home-made Hummingbird Feeders
Found 'em :o) Now for another question...does anyone know where I can find those glass flower replacement tubes used in the parasol type feeders? I'd like to make some out of ceramic - thus painting my own designs and lead-free glazes. Or also using my own glass containers and drilling my own holes that the tubes will fit into.
Am looking for these parts --- but at a cheaper price:
http://www.a1glasshummingbirdfeeders.com/Bird-Brain-Glass-Replacement-Flower-Orange.html
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-17666272850995_2009_4726973
~ Cat
This message was edited Aug 15, 2008 10:04 AM
Love the little mini feeders and if you do ever make any to sell please please please put me at the top of your list would love some for here and for my great grandmama and uncle !!!!
Thank you
Pauline
P.S. Don't forget us here at Daves Garden when you get rich and famous LOL
Bump
thanks for the bump.... what great stuff!
Your welcome! Starting my first "TexasPuddyPrint" hummingbird feeder today! Love her work.....she's got talent.
Hey, I haven't made it to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous - alas, work keeps me too busy to enjoy crafting and trying out new ideas full time.
However, am glad to share these photos and ideas with ya'll - and I'm sure the joy each and everyone of you will bring to all those hungry hummies is worth more than a visit from Robin Leach!!! :o)
Remember to add your photos of the hummingbird feeders you create to this post - it will make it easier for everyone to find all the good stuff on one thread :o)
Happy crafting ya'll!!! It's been 3+ years and I'm still feeding hummies in south Texas!!!
~ Cat
I know that feeling Cat....would love working full time with my plants & crafts. It's a shame you can't make these beauties full time....you might just get on the Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous :)
Will post pictures soon.
Any nurses or friends of nurses, could request used IV med bottles. they come in many sizes and have rubber stoppers that of course fit tightly. Especially any ICU nurses. Just be sure to wash them thoroughly.
Back when I worked, I bet I could have brought over a dozen a day home with me.
It seems like the rubber stopper that comes on them would suffice with a hole created and a little pretty outside decoration.
This is so exciting!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here...weather was down in the 40's last night - I know...that's a warm front for ya'll up north...but down here in the south...well, that's dagnabbit get your thermals out weather! However, that won't last long...it's supposed to get up to 80 tomorrow :o) Go figure!!!
Have one little lonely hummingbird that is still frequenting a feeder I have hanging from my back porch eave. I can hear it squeaking every morning - since I sleep with the bedroom window opened I think it hears my alarm clock and wakes up too - because it buzzes in and out of my back porch and perches on some vines right near the sliding door.
I keep putting out fresh nectar for it since there's not much blooming this time of year.
~ Cat
Cat, What size wire do you use? Your beaded work seems to go where you want it to....spirals around the feeder tubes perfect. Here's a pic of mine.....as you can see I had to tie off mine around the tube....doesn't look as attractive as yours.
Dollie
Here is another unfinished feeder. I used the cheap Walmart feeders, added cheap Dollar Store figurines to help dress-up the feeders. Once I get the hang of adding the bead work to the tubes I'll get these made. Lol, your help is needed!
Lots of nice feeders here. You Gals are good :-)
At 9º here today, hummers that arrive here around the end of the first week in May, seem eons away .. lol
But too cold for outside right now, I have been making some feeders also to be ready :-)
Alice
Dollie,
That one is so cute!!!
I use craft store wire from Walmart or Michael's. It quite pliable. I also use a thicker gauge copper wire that a friend gave me as scrap that was left on a spool their company uses to wrap electrical motors...or something like that :o)
~ Cat
Alice, My gosh I thought it was cold here :) Today it was in the 40's. Everybody staying sick with our crazy weather.....80's one day, 20's next.
I love Cat's feeders! Want my gardens filled with her designs of different feeders by spring.
Cat, I'll try to locate the thicker wire and redo all of my bead work. I'll post the "after" pictures once I complete them. Thank you for all your help on getting these feeders made.
Dollie
The anternator in myriding lawnmower had to be replaced last summer. I tell you this because there are hundreds of yards of copper wire tightly wound up in those alternators!! Maybe you can find one.
Dollie,
...and I thought our weather was crazy out here! We're having mild nights of 50 or so and then it warms up to the high 80 and 90s during the day. Still have only two hummies that come around to the feeder I have out...but haven't seen any butterflies. It is spring yet?!
~ Cat
Dollie,
It was -9 last night when I closed up for the night. I am sure it got colder as the furnace ran all night. It's been a rough winter here this year ..lol
My hummers won't be back until the 1st or 2nd week in May, so I have a few months yet to make some new feeders and be ready for them :-)
Alice
This is a great idea thread! I have been saving the empty air fresher bottles to make hummie feeders out of. This is the kind that have fluid in the bottom and a fairly thick wick to disperse the scent. I pop the wick mechanism out of the empty bottles and toss it and wash the bottles out really well. I have about ten of them saved, time to get to work on tranforming them.
Tetleytuna...do remember to post photos of your creativity :o) Same goes for everyone else who finds cute little bottles to recycle - so many ideas...never enough time :o)
~ Cat
Birdieblue, Wish I had known about the alternator having copper wire inside. My son just threw away an older riding lawn mower last week.
Alice, do you bring in all your canna rhizomes with temps that low? For so reason I assumed you kept your cannas in the ground year round. Love seeing photos of your beautiful canna gardens.
Cat, You can send some of that 80 degree weather my way :) We're having two days of temps in the 70's then back down to the 60's with nights in the 50's./40's.
Tetleytuna, What do you use for stoppers? Looking forward to seeing your feeders.
Have not figured the stoppers part out yet but what I think I will do is take one of the bottles into a local store called songbird station and get their reccomendations. They are wholesale suppliers of bird related items and are sure to have something I could use. Will post pics when I get some done.
I found these cute little mini hummingbird feeders at the Dollar General Store for only $2.00 each! I'm going dress them up with beads in about the same design as Cat does her mini feeders. Thanks again Cat for sharing your designs with us.
Cat, I just stumbled across this thread and admit I didn't read each post, but, I saw where you said you had put some on ebay...have you ever put them here on DG to sell? I'd buy one and bet you'd find a good market there.
Cannagirl...those are cute indeed! Let me know how those stoppers hold up. I've used feeders with stoppers like that and had trouble with them leaking. I really do like those butterfly designs on them. Do show us photos if you decide to jazz them up some more :o)
Nanniepb...I never did get around to selling any. Ended up selling them locally and never had enough time to keep making them. I have so many crafts started it's unreal :o)
I've shared plenty of photos and ideas to make it easier for others to make their own :o) Seems the only thing I'm good at is procrastinating!!!
~ Cat
Cat, you got me hooked on jazzing up feeders after seeing all your photos. I'll post some finished feeders in a day or two. That would be just my luck that the little mini feeders want hold up......LOL, I purchased a whole case of them!!!! I'll test them to see if they hold water. Any thoughts on what to do if they have defects?
I ended up tilting the feeders with leaking stoppers back a bit. It helped to keep the nectar in. After a while I just gave up and made my own :o)
~ Cat
Dollie,
I saw those at Dollar General yesterday .. and got two of them to try, too .. lol
Have not tested them for leaking either, but will do so today.
You could have fun playing with a whole case of them :-) Looking forward to see your pics.
Still thinking about what I will do with mine soon as a few free moments to work on them.
Alice
Good morning Alice,
I did test the mini birdfeeders for water leakage yesterday, no leaks. The stoppers, if not pressed in real tight will fall out with just a light touch. So, that's a real negative against them..
I played with a few last night, but didn't like the beaded designs I came up with. Actually, they were down right ugly :) Also, the beads I was using were small beads, but too big for this little bottle, causing the mini bottle to hang lop-sided. I was wishing last night Cat & I lived closer....Lol, I'd have to invite myself & these mini bottles over to her place.
What I wanted to do with some of these mini birdfeeders is to make a hanging mobile for the hummers.....Maybe Cat will give me some pointers.
Dollie
Dollie...if you were my neighbor I'd have gladly let you scrounge through the boxes and boxes and boxes...and did I say boxes of craft supplies I have stored in one of my walk-in closets!!!
A hummie feeder mobile is feasible. I do so like the one Opus makes that looks like red eggs hanging from metalwork.
Perhaps you can use an old left over Christmas star - you know those metal looking thingies that are about two feet in diameter? Or perhaps an old grapevine wreath that you can hang from a tree and attach feeders to both sides? Any old branch with various twigs? I know when I made that lollipop feeder it was a headache to maintain. See my last photo posted on March 16, 2008...or copy/paste this into your browser:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4672452
I guess pretty much anything goes...you could also get an old hubcap or bicycle/wagon wheel and hang feeders from that...sort of like a merry go round looking feeder :o)
I know when I am out at the ranch and their are too many ants in the trees I just hang the feeders from Mom's clothes line :o)
~ Cat
ps...don't forget to post photos...we all want to see and share ideas :o)
Oh, I bet that was a pain to clean and fill!!
They would still fight over it and chase each other at my house.
Walmart usually carries the mini-hb feeders for 99 cents in the lawn and garden section - usually found on an end cap.
Hey Dollie...I was browsing the DG Market Place...somebody is selling feeders like those dollar store ones for $14.95 but they are red glass (painted red or genuine red glass I cannot tell) and have a suction cup to mount them on a window :o) Also saw some of the same on ebay...from semi-outrageous to truly outrageous prices :o)
If you wanted to jazz yours up a bit you can easily buy that glass spray paint and paint yours red.
I bought that glass paint at Michael's and painted some of those large 32 ounce feeder jars red a few years ago :o)
Guess after seeing some of those prices on ebay and the shipping costs (the sky is not the limit for some it seems) it's no wonder I don't like to put the ones I make up for sale. Granted each one I make is unique and takes time and I do have to purchase beads and wire and such to make them - I just can't fathom charging big bucks for something so tiny :o) Hence, all the photos and ideas I've shared so everyone can make their own :o)
Do wish ya'll would post photos of your creativity in time for the hummies and Springtime!!! :o)
~ Cat
This message was edited Feb 18, 2009 8:18 PM
My daughter is the bead lady....I'm letting her take on this craft. it will be interesting!
I have a friend who is in mgmt for a glass mfg Co. he is going to try to find out where they mfg the insulin and that type bottles to get me a case of them. QUESTION - do I just need the bottle and then the flower fits into the neck, or will i also need the rummer stopper? he does not know about obtaining the stoppers for meas all his company does is the glass container. I am very excited about possibly getting a case of these bottles!!
Sheri
I looked at my SIL's insulin bottles tonight and they are SO teeny. (she has a pump, so perhaps those are smaller) I'm also asking my neighbor-nurse, but she's on vacation this week.
I posted on free cycle and found 2 ladies that save their insulin bottles for me. They keep me pretty well stocked.
Betty
Birdie,
I bought the Perky Pet feeder parts - which fit perfectly into "SOME" insulin bottles.
It depends on the manufacturer - as some bottle necks are a teeny bit wider than others - and I found that out when a friend from work gave me his insulin bottles. Those are slightly wider and the stopper slips out.
I can't remember if it is Lilly or some other company whose bottles I initially used as I removed all the labels. So I find myself with a mix of bottles and have to try each one out before I begin to decorate.
~ Cat
Here are some that I have made with insulin bottles. They are not fancy but they do work.
Betty
