​Because of the monsoon like rains in in the area, our setup was moved out of Lititz Spring Park to Main Street along cement covered roads.  But, instead of more expected rain, the sky opened up, showed its blues and Mr. Sun was there for all.

The Rotary Club Craft Show got so toasty that even the doggies made a b-line for the shade of our tent.

​It was wonderful to meet some new folks and I was so pleased to see the enthusiasm when people find a special carving that excites them for their collection. 

The Base
To ground a bird tree a base needs to be able to keep it from falling.  Many have used sizable cuts of wood or logs or like historical artists have utilized finials from chairs and beds which may have been discarded.  I have used these architectural wonders and have also found several pieces of wood set out for a garbage collector which may have ended up in a land fill.  Those pieces are now renewed like the symbolism of new life in a bird tree.  I have also collected other turnings from auctions and second hand stores.  When creating the base, a branch is placed into the center of a base with enough weight to hold it and the birds from tipping over.

The “Tree”
The branches or what the sculptures are connected is referred to as the tree.  It can be created from a variety of twigs or branches or in this case, I have used a sassafras tree with enough limbs to make it pleasing.  Why choose sassafras as the wood?  Besides the historical significance of Simmons using this type of tree, the branches of sassafras can be bent when it is green and held in that position to stay bent when it dries. When he created his trees, Simmons even spliced extra limbs into the trunk to be able to add more birds.

​The Birds
As the birds on this tree are hand carved in wood, this is the more classical form of what I call the “bird tree”.  They are similar to realistic birds but are not meant to be like real birds.  They are colorful representations like the birds on fracturs or hand drawn certificates of merit from the 1800’s.  They also show the styles of carvers like Simmons, the cross-hatching and eye brows of Schimmel and the turned heads of Distelfinks used on Gottshalls trees.  Each bird is hand carved, sanded, painted in multiple colors, and stained for a personality all its own.

​The Placement of birds
When I researched installing birds on my trees, I wanted to learn how other artists positioned their sculptures on their trees.  Some artists face their birds all in one direction and others place their birds in a haphazard location.  The colors and sizes of the birds can also dictate their location.   In real life, birds randomly sit on trees but on a folk art bird tree, it’s up to the artist to decide where and how to place their birds on the structure.    Many times smaller birds are placed at the top and fatter, larger ones at the bottom.  For this example, I have randomly placed my birds on their perches and also have mixed the colors of the birds across the tree.  Some may even be placed on the base as seen in some Simmons and Gottshall works.

​Attaching the birds
I purchase annealed wire for the process of attaching birds to trees and stumps.  I estimate the length of wire needed to go into the bird, through a branch and wrap around each branch twice.  After threading through the branch, I wrap the wire through the inside of the underside of the bird then outside reversing each leg of the bird so that it won’t rock back and forth when attached.  This is my way but each artist does it their own way.  Gottshall usually double twisted his wire on each bird when attaching them while Simmons used one wire per leg.