Making & Painting Victorian Birdhouses

I purchased 3 of these books, one for myself, one for my daughter and one for my daughter-in-law. Everytime I would see beautiful birdhouses like these, I would think,I would love to try and make them, now I can. The directions are so well done it seems impossible to make a mistake. The church will be my first project. Thanks again.

The reason for writing this book came from all the requests to purchase one of my birdhouse creations. I make one of a kind birdhouses and had no desire to mass produce them. I am a self taught artist and woodworker. Whenever I made a birdhouse I would draw the design on the wood, cut it out and then draw and paint the design on every individual birdhouse. It took me a year to write this book because I wanted to make it possible for everyone to own one of my original birdhouse designs. With precise prints and painting instructions I felt poeple could make many birdhouses, by changing around the window treatments and house designs, or the eleven birdhouses in the book could be made exactly as featured showing all sides from start to finish of all the houses. I wrote this book using an old fashion typewriter and took all my own pictures. I toiled over the prints of each birdhouse for many hours so the majority of them could be made with basically the same width of boards. I tried to make this as simple as I could to demonstrate painting stones, bricks, flowers, stained glass church windows, and frilly curtains. I have been told by people who purchase my book that it is one of the most thoroughly explained and pictured birdhouse books they have ever found. I am very pleased because it was what I wanted people to feel when they opened the pages. The birdhouses in this book have been put on display in an art gallery and public functions and have received rave reviews. I hope the people who buy my book get hours of enjoyment making them and displaying them, and the answer is yes I do put mine outside for the birds to enjoy. I explain in the book how the houses can be built to remove the back for cleaning. I wanted my readers to feel they had ended up with a true masterpiece when they were finished, a birdhouse they could keep of give as a gift. This probably explains why it took me a year to write it.

Most of us can cut and nail boards but who would of thought I could build something that looks like art. Houses look great and the birds can't wait to move in.

The book is very clearly written, with excellent pictures to follow along. Anyone can do this! The simple instructions are very easy to follow. This book is one of the better "how to" books that I've seen!

Everything made simple. Really enjoying the book. Everything works. Marvin Ziegler