Bee, Bug, and Seed Dried Gourd Art Bird House Gallery
Please “click” on any image for a full-sized photograph.
Enjoy making your own bee, bug, and seed gourd art bird houses by visiting our blog project – Gourd Bee House Basic Construction and Gourd Bee House Roof Accents.
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| Corn Husk Roof | Grapevine Twists | Flower Petal Roof |
Corn Husk Roof – This nest egg gourd bee house uses corn husks that were dried in the microwave. Remove and save the outer leaves of your next batch of farm fresh corn. Lay the corn husks between two sheets of paper towels on your microwave glass table. Microwave for 30 seconds. Allow the husks to totally cool. Microwave a second time. Set the husks aside overnight. In the morning they should be dry enough to use in your craft projects. Click on the photo to see how the microwaving allows the corn husks to curl and twist, giving a fun, added dimension to your roof line.
Grapevine Twists – This is our practice Bee House gourd. Find this Lora S. Irish free step-by-step project on our blog pages Gourd Bee House Basic Construction and Gourd Bee House Roof Accents.
Flower Petal Roof – This nest egg gourd bee house is created using individual flowers from a Snowball Hydrangea cluster. Using scissors cut about twenty flowers from the main cluster. Use hot glue to set each flower onto the scrapbook paper roof. Begin adding your flowers along the bottom edge of the roof side, then add new rows, slowly working towards the center top roof line. Several small sets of Red Barberry seeds adds a little color to this miniature bird house.
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| Hydrangea Perch | Pine Needle Roof | Shelf Bee House |
Hydrangea Perch – This Christmas ornament bird house uses microwave-dried corn husks for the roof covering. The long roof line gives lots of room for a large section of a Snowball Hydrangea flower cluster. The stems of the cluster were hot glued in several places along the roof line to add strength to the flower stems.
Pine Needle Roof – Long, dried pine needles give a slate-roof look to this nest egg gourd bug house. A small amount of hot glue was applied to the roof side along one edge, then several pine needle clusters were attached so that the needles hung beyond the roof edge. A small amount of hot glue on the opposite side of the roof attaches the second side of the pine needles. When the roof side was completely covered with pine needles I cut two bamboo kitchen skewers the height of the side, these were added using hot glue. The pine needles were then trimmed on both sides, using scissors, to give a straight edge to the roof.
Shelf Bee House – I created my first dried gourd art miniature bird houses as outdoor garden accents. Small nest egg gourds and bottle gourds make great winter roosting nests for the wild bee and beneficial bug population in my flower beds. The small, 1/4″ or less hole in the gourd allows the bees or bugs to crawl inside the gourd to find winter-weather shelter. I made most of my gourd houses to go outdoors, but I wanted at least one for myself. This shelf Bee House uses an 8″ length of dry bamboo as the base, smooth black river stones to add weight along that base, and the left-over natural dried accents that I had on my craft table. I cut a small, 1/8″ hole in the base of the Bee House to accept a thick bamboo kitchen skewer as my bird house pole. A couple of feathered craft birds finished the design.
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| Garden Stakes | Dogwood Seeds | Seed House |
Garden Stakes – A craft Popsicle stick, four bamboo kitchen skewers, a 12″ length of garden twine, and some hot glue makes these quick garden stakes. Hot glue two skewers to the back side of the popsicle stick, about 3/4″ from the end. Hot glue two skewers to the front of the stick in the same place. Wrap the length of twin around the sticks and skewers, tie in a tight knot. Cut the extra twine, leaving only a 1/2″ length twine ends. Cut a small notch in the top edge of the stick on the opposite side of the stake to hold your Bee House hanger. Use your pyrography pen to add the names and varieties of your flowers. You can secure your Bee House to the garden stake with a little hot glue.
Dogwood Seeds – This is a close-up of one of my garden stake Bee Houses – one made for two specific reasons. My first consideration was to give a little extra roosting room for my garden bugs, bees, and spiders I rolled a dried corn husk around a pencil and hot glued the sides to create two tubes. Those tubes were glued under the side overhangs of the roof line, and gives a small, safe place for a bug to rest throughout the winter months. The roof for this house is over-sized – 3″ x 3″. That gives an extra 1/2″ overhang on the back side of the house and therefore another small area for a spider to create her web come springtime.
My second thought in creating this little house concerns the Dogwood seed cluster on the roof. I want to increase the number of wild Dogwood trees in my yard, especially along the driveway. But I have had little success in transplanting the volunteer seedlings. So I hot glued the stem of a cluster of viable, fresh Dogwood seeds to the roof line of a dozen little Bee House garden stakes. I placed these garden stakes along my driveway where I want new wild Dogwood trees. The seeds will, naturally, fall from the roof and hopefully take root exactly where I want the new trees. The stake will remain, marking where I want to watch next spring for saplings!
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| Wild Bee House | Simple Pine Roof | Gift Seed House |
Wild Bee House – My area has lost its Honey Bee populations. So I want to encourage new populations of wild bees to my garden. This Bee House is created from a small bottle gourd that is 5″ high x 2 1/2″ long. The entrance hole is set high in the gourd, under the roof overhang which will provide extra protection during the winter months.
Simple Pine Roof – This miniature gourd art bird house took less than 20 minutes to create using the small pine cone petals left over from several other bee house projects. A little piece of dried Red Barberry adds just a touch of color. Its simplicity makes it a perfect dried grapevine wreath accent for your front door.
Gift Seed House – Do you share your garden seeds with your family and friends? If you do this little Seed House makes a wonderful “envelope” for those gifts from your garden. Following the steps in the Gourd Bee House Basic Construction, add those flower, shrub, and tree seeds to the inside of your Bee House before you hot glue the roof. Be sure to include a few of the gourd seeds so that your friend can grow and share Bee House gourds next year. I added a little tag to my Seed Houses that shows what sees are inside.
Thank you for joining me in this free online gourd art project, creating Bee Houses, Bug Houses, and Seed Houses. Please share it on FaceBook, Pintrerest, and Reddit!