Bubble Gum Machine Bird Feeder

Bubble Gum Machine Bird Feeder

This bubble Gum Machine Bird Feeder is fairly easy to make and will look adorable in the yard. And, as long as you have some of the materials on hand, this project should be somewhat inexpensive. Hope you enjoy this project as much as I did! =)

The Drilling Process

I went through the drilling process twice so I could find the easiest method for you. A few cracked pots and many striped drill blades later and I believe I found it! The key to drilling through the clay quickly seems to be a wet clay pot and a glass and tile drill bit. Now you will have to use the spade blade for the bottom of the clay pot and the bit for the middle of the bottom clay saucer.

Materials:

1 Clay Pot ( This didn’t have a size labeled but it measures about 5 inches in diameter and about 4 inches in length)
4-inch Clay Saucer
8-inch Clay Saucer
Glass Globe ( You can find these with the fake flowers at Walmart, I’ve also seen them at the dollar tree. Make sure this fits on the clay pot correctly before buying.)
1 Wooden Dresser Knob (These come 2 in a pack at Lowes)
Safety glasses
1-inch spade blade
1/8-inch Drill Bit
1/2-inch Glass & Tile Drill Bit
4 Feet of thin Wire ( I bought mine at Lowes and had them cut it to size.)
Wire cutters
Appropriate wire camps (This will depend on the size of the wire)
Red Spray Paint
A bucket or something you can soak clay pots in ( I just soaked mine in the bathtub, it needs to be cleaned anyway. ;p)
Bird Seed
heavy duty glue (Gorilla Glue will work nicely)

How to:

Step One: Soak clay pot and saucers in water for a few hours and begin to drill holes. Soaking the pots and saucer will allow the clay to soften making it easier to drill through.

Use a 1/8-inch drill bit to drill a hole in the middle of both saucers and wooden knob
Use 1-inch spade blade to drill the hole in the middle of the bottom of the clay pot.
Use 1/2-inch glass & Tile blade to drill a hole in the center of the bottom of the glass globe. Also, use Glass & Tile bit to drill 4 holes around the rim of the saucer where the bird seed will come out.

*I ruined so many blades trying to figure out how to drill the seed holes around the rim of the pot. I finally decided to use a drill bit that is made for glass and tile, this worked wonderfully! As long as the clay pot has soaked in water for a few hours the glass bit will drill right through!

( Don’t mind my helper. He’s selfish and seems to think everything is about him =p )

Step Two: Spray paint clay pot, saucers, and knob red.

Step 3: Double the wire to form a loop at the top. Attach wire clamp to secure the wire in place; use pliers to squeeze shut.

(After I took the photo I realized my wire clamp got stuck in the knob hole.)

Step 4: Continue feeding the wire through the drilled holes until it comes out the bottom.

Step 5: Attach a second wire clamp on the bottom to hold everything.

*After putting this together I realized I bought the wrong type of wire clamp because the clamp slipped right through the hole. They have different types and I’m sure if you ask someone at your local hardware store they’d be more then happy to help! I used a rubber band and some heavy duty glue to secure it for now.

Step 6: I then used a heavy duty glue to secure the wooden knob to the top saucer. This will act as a lid and make it easy to take the lid on and off when filling seed. I also glued the glass globe to the clay pot, this just kept it from being so wobbly. I did NOT glue the clay pot to the bottom saucer. I wanted easy access in case bird seed would get stuck in the pot.