Here’s an easy DIY way to make your own hanging birdbath.

Hanging Birdbath
Birdbath hung in the shade of a tree

Materials

  • Terracotta saucer (8.5″ diameter)
  • All-purpose Sealer (preps porous surface for paint)
  • Acrylic craft paint – Purple, turquoise, white
  • Rubber stamps – 4 related images like my four birds
  • Staz-On Opaque White stamping ink (made for non-porous surfaces)
  • Waterproof clear spray on sealant
  • Nylon chord – Chartreuse
  • 8 Blue glass beads
  • 1 Flat brush (base coats/ sealer), 1 Small pointed paint brush ( edges and detail)
  • Lighter (to melt cut ends of nylon chord)

Instructions

Wash the saucer and dry completely. Coat with one coat of sealer and let dry. Coat the entire saucer with two coats of purple paint, doing one side at a time and letting it dry for at least 30 minutes between coats. Paint the lip turquoise, it may need two coats. Stamp the inside of the saucer with birds.

It helps to mark the center of the saucer with a dot if you plan to add designs like I did.
It helps to mark the center of the saucer with a dot if you plan to add designs like I did.

Paint a disc over the dot in the center, let it dry and then add the white dots around the edges.
Paint the inside of the birds

Simple details that make this birdbath charming
Simple details that make this birdbath charming
Coffee filters between the saucer and the butter tub add a cusion that protects the paint from getting marred.
Coffee filters between the saucer and the butter tub add a cusion that protects the paint from getting marred.

Spray on 2 coats of the waterproof sealant.

The tripod hanger is basically a triangle with chords tied at each corner that are drawn up around the saucer and tied forming the hanger.
The tripod hanger is basically a triangle with chords tied at each corner that are drawn up around the saucer and tied forming the hanger.

I measured the saucer circumference just beneath the top lip (25.5 inches) and added one-foot to that for the length of chord that would become the bottom of tripod hanger. By dividing the circumference by 3 to determine I needed 8.5” between each corner loop of the hanger.  I made the first loop in the middle of the chord, then two others on each side of that 8.5 inches apart.

Loop in loop tying detail.
Loop in loop tying detail.

Next I cut three 3’ lengths of chord, folded them in half and looped one through each to the loops of the hanger and securing and tying them together at the top.

Leaving long ends where chords are tied gave me a place to add these beads.
Leaving long ends where chords are tied gave me a place to add these beads.

Last I added the beads, 6 at the top and 2 at the bottom, tying a double knot beneath each one and melting the knot to form a stop so the bead would not fall off.

Pretty enough to give as a gift, don't you think?
Pretty enough to give as a gift, don’t you think?

Tips

Elevating the saucer on a butter tub makes it easier paint. To keep the cut ends of the nylon chord from unraveling melt them using the lighter immediately after cutting.

Originally Published: July 12, 2011