Parrot Feather Memoire Drawers.

Whenever I clip my birds wings ,I keep some of the feathers with me ,just for memories when that bird is  not with me. Recently my cockatiel died, I was really upset and wanted a good way to store her feathers, so I decided to make a complete drawer set for all my birds.It's doesn't mean that this is only for dead pets, i store all my pets feathers and just keep filling the box.You can make this for dogs or cats by keeping fur clippings or any small toys in the drawers. I made each bird a separate drawer, with his/her name and a picture.

Ok so I used a mini cereal box and matchboxes, but you can use any box that seems to fit snuggly in another. If you have alot of pets make sure you can find more of the same kind of box. I you want you can use a full size cereal box and 12 count crayon boxes. You will need:

1) A cereal or any large rectangular box
2) Match boxes or any small box
3)Masking tape
4) A pen
5) Paints and paint brushes of various sizes or felt pens
6) A ruler
7) Scissors
8) Feathers duh... stupid me


Feel free to customize it any way, You can add any thing to your drawers ,just make sure the boxes will fit snugly together.

Cut out a rectangle from the front of the box and leave a 1/4 of an inch . Once you have cut it out, use masking tape to tape the border down creating a thick border to the frame,also make sure to tape down the flaps .This secures the frame and makes sure nothing falls out when your crazy sister is causing an earthquake over the last pretzel stick 0_o.

Next you have to use the rectangle you cut out and cut it down to the width of the box and length of the inside of the box. That way it can form a shelve, you can cut it a little wider and slowly cut it to size using a ruler as a guide. Then when you have piece that fits perfectly in the frame, use it as a template and place it over the remaining cardboard and cut it out too.

Add tape to the ends of the shelves with half of it sticking out.Fold the tape over it's self non-sticky side to non sticky side and push it down into the frame. Unfold and press it down firmly, apply a long strip the lenght of the frame across the side of the shelf that touches the frame. It should be nice and snug and it will be secured further after you paint it.

Since my box is glossy I used a mix of glue and paint, you can just cover the whole box in masking tape and paint noramly , but who wants to do that.Mix equal parts white glue with paint. Use acrylic paint not water colors please! No one likes a watery finish. I used a watered down mix for the inside and a thick paste like mix for the outside. It should dry quickly and you can spray it with varnish when you finish painting the design in the next step.

So since I used matchboxes they were tiny so I just covered them up with masking tape and painted them white with normal acrylic paint, not water colors please.You dont have to paint the inside part of the box just secure the corners with more tape but be sure it can still slide. Again this just makes the box snug so nothing seeps out because of your crazy sister and her pretzel addiction.Maybe thats just me, donno.After this just dram a picture of your pet or glue a picture  ,write his or her name along the top of the picture and the sides of the box. A handy tip is to place both bits of the matchbox together and draw on the side where both the flat portions of the boxes are .It helps make it easier to draw on a stable canvas.

Now you just paint in the drawing or skip this step if you used a picture. You can make it easier by filling it in with color pencils or marker, ut I think paint gives it the best look. After the frame is done drying you can add some design to it, I made a tree to hold up all my birds, but you can use bones or fish designs if it's for a cat or dog. You can leave it plain too because its going to be filled up with your drawers,so make sure THEY look good.

The last thing to do is let it dry and fill it up with your feathers or whatever.You fill up your frame by placing the  drawers with the pic facing you and when you get too many to fit that ways just turn them sideways and keep going, you can glue string to the back and hang it or weight it down with pebbles at the bottom shelve, I used a small marble tile. And when that it done just make another and another, but your probably not as crazy as I am. lol. Enjoy and please comment, I'd love to see the ones you made.