Soldered Garden Birds

The beauty of creativity is being able to transform everyday objects, which is the case with these soldered garden birds. I found them at the store, but they were a dark metal, and I wanted to amp up the vibe. With a little craft paint, glitter and solder magic, they now are my favorite garden decorations!

I’m excited because the folks at Bernzomatic invited me to share a couple of my soldered creations in honor of National Craft Month! Here is the press release about that.

Not only have I been using the 3 in 1 soldering tool, but also the micro torch, and it’s a lot easier than you think! Once you get down the basics of operating the tool, you’ll come up with all kinds of variations! I’ve made everything from jewelry to mixed media to garden decorations.

 Here’s how I made theses metal birdies (I purchased them at Target)!

SUPPLIES:

Metal birds (found in most garden areas of stores)

Bernzomatic ST2200 Micro torch
Bernzomatic Solder, Flux

Bernzomatic Flux

gloves

Goggles

Craft paint

Decoupage medium

Glitter

Brush

Copper tape

Burnisher

Dust off your birds and then base coat with your preferred color of craft paint. Let dry.

Now it’s time to add the glitter! In small cup, mix in some decoupage medium and glitter and stir until thoroughly mixed. Brush on a coat over the dried paint on your bird. Let dry and then apply a second coat. This will provide a flake-free glittered effect for your garden birds!

Apply the copper tape around all of the edges of the bird.

Burnish the edges of the tape to be as flush as possible to the surface.

Apply a layer of flux all over the copper tape so the solder will connect.

Wearing gloves and goggles, turn on your solder iron by clicking the safety latch and pressing the lever. The iron has a little hole at the top, watch for that to turn red from the flame and make sure to point it away from your face. Hold the iron against the wire until it melts.

Drag the melted solder that is on the tip of the iron and drag it across the copper tape, nice and smooth.

Keep going until all of the copper tape surface is covered. Repeat and do the outside edges and the back as well.

From the Bernzomatic site:

“Find Your Fire. There’s a fire in each of us. Waiting to ignite. We believe in carrying the torch ignited by our founder in 1876—whose quality craftsmanship and progressive mindset are what blazed the trail that got us here today. We believe in awakening the innovators in all of us—inspiring a culture of creators who can break boundaries, mark new territory and go where no flame has burned before. We believe in empowering those who’ve found their flame and dare to follow it. Because the ones who do are the catalysts of bold transformations that redefine the limits of what we can achieve.   We believe in our fire and in your fire. It’s time to ignite.”