Birdy Faberge Egg

This is Momma Bird in her Crystal Palace. I call her Tsarina Chirpy. (It's ironic because she's so quiet...) :-p

:D

This was a crystal egg that I picked up at a thrift store and the rhinestones were all from bracelets and necklaces. :) So this is a mostly-recycled piece *i bought the bird for 1.50. lol* I will take you step-by-step through my process. I hope you enjoy looking at my very 1st instructable, and I hope that I do it correctly. hahaha. :D

i used the following:

-glass/crystal egg
-a bird that fits nicely
-acrylic paint, clear varnish
-e6000 glue
-clear spray paint
-antique lace for the nest
-old necklaces, bracelets, etc.
-patience, creativity and drive :)

Ok, paint the glass completely and carefully. You will notice that it's preeetttyyy hard to do, because acrylic just rubs off the layers underneath it. To avoid this, I dab it on thickly and pat it around. This prevents having to do so many layers and ripping of previous paint.

THEN, once dry, you want to spray it with clear spray paint to let it kinda be protected. On top of that, when dry, apply some kind of clear varnish from a craft store, just to make it even stronger, because the edges of the base and lid will push the paint off the glass and the varnish reallllllllly helps with that problem.

-find your lace, cut it up
-arrange your nest :)
-decorate your birdy and make her perdy :)
-glue her down

NOTE: as u can see, strings-etc...i used hot glue. i would advise that you use the e6000 glue because the bond will be permanent. the hot glue will work where i put it, because it was bonding fabric to metal and it suits the purpose. but when you glue a substance, such as rhinestones to glass..its better to be having that great bond with the industrial, all-purpose adhesive.

Okay, The exterior is clear, because it's crystal, so there will be no paint here unless you...painted it. haha :) Anyways, you need to coat the back of every single rhinestone with the e6000 glue and the surface of where you will be placing them. THIS can be tricky business, so I just suggest that you take your time. One good tip is to use a toothpick because it lets you manage the glue a little easier. Once each surface is coated, wait 3-10minutes for the glue to set, then you can place them together and they will bond. If your glue looks a little gnarly afterward you can go in there with an exacto knife and carefully chop/saw/slice away what ugliness you've created lol. It does look prettier when you clean it up. Just be careful not to make the glue mad, and rip it all out because you'll have to re-glue everything.

Ok, so if you'd like to have eggs inside your egg...you can get some beads, pearls, old earrings (which is what i did), and take them apart, paint them, then cover them with varnish to make them shiny and pretty. Think of a creative way to dry them without smearing your pretty paint job! haha. :) For my birdy, I painted white dots on her eyeballs so she didn't look so distant, she's a tsarina, she needs to be here and now! lol. I then painted some eyelashes and also put varnish over that because I wanted her to have perdy shiny eyes.

I glued the eggs in with the e6000 glue and i put the edge with the most metal underneath her, so i only had cute metal showing from the beads. Angle them so that it compliments your painting and the shape of the bead/eggs! :)

Now be careful with your new masterpiece and be very excited about what you have just constructed! :D (I am excited!) lol