Garden Bird Mobile

Several years ago on a trip through the Southern Highlands of NSW I saw this cute metal garden bird mobile which I thought would look great in the garden at home. It wasn’t expensive so I bought the item and put it in the garden and enjoyed it for several years. It was made from thin tinplate with a weathered rust-like finish like many similar styled garden decorations available at Garden Nurseries around Australia.

Unfortunately, being exposed to the elements, the painted rust finish finally gave way to very real rust and corrosion. Being made of thin tinplate it was reaching the point of falling apart and being useless as a garden ornament. Because I liked it so much I decided to resurrect it and make a copy of the garden bird mobile in stainless steel which would eliminate future corrosion problems.

I based the reproduction on commercially available stainless steel balls welded together. A variety of different thickness stainless steel rods and wires were obtained to make the feet and spectacles. The wings, tail and top hat were cut from a small sheet of 0.7mm stainless steel sheet. After all the parts had been made they were assembled, balanced on their perch and then placed back in the ground making a sparkling addition to the garden in the morning sun.