Fairy Gardens are all the rage right now and what’s a fairy garden without a fairy house? Of course you can buy fairy houses, and there are some very unique and whimsical ones available at my store located on www.fairygarden.ca (Gotta plug me right?). However………fairy gardening is a DIY activity and so – no surprise – fairy gardeners want to know – How do I make my own fairy houses?
There are as many ways to make fairy houses as there are people who want to make them! Imagination is key. Here are some ideas to get you inspired and start your creative juices flowing.
Making a Gourd Fairy House
This is the perfect time of year to start this project. You will need a dried gourd. There may be garden markets, farms or friends that have some left from the fall season. Gourds take about 2 to 3 months to dry. Remove any dirt or debris and hang them in a dark dry area for drying. When they are properly dried they will sound hollow when you tap on them and you may hear dried seeds and such rattling about when you shake them. Clean the dried gourd with a stiff brush and some mild soap. (Use a little bleach if your gourd shows signs of mold). Now you can leave it as is and paint it and glue or mold things to it. You can also cut out doorways and windows. To cut into the gourd mark the area you want to cut out and use a utility knife to make an incision. A scroll saw works very well to do the rest of the cutting. Clean the seeds and pulp out of the gourd with a spoon, melon baller or what ever comes to hand. Decorate and finish off by sealing the project with white shellac or varnish.
More Fairy House Ideas
Decorating flower pots, ready made bird houses or rocks are all great ways to create your one of a kind fairy house. You can also experiment with hypertufa and other building materials.There is no wrong way to make a fairy house. Let your imagination go wild!
Suggestions
Some inexpensive materials you can use for modeling or decorating are mortar, drywall compound or stipple, wood fill, plaster of paris, pebbles and stones, twigs, miniatures and of course, paint. TIP: A cake decorating kit can be used with soft modeling materials to fashion creative details.
A cost effective way to build a terrarium for a fairy garden or a frame for your fairy house is to use inexpensive picture frames for construction. They can be glued or tacked together at the edges and hinged to each other.
Hypertufa is a material made of cement, sand and peat moss or perlite. Using boxes, sand, plastic and other containers any number of shapes and items can be molded. You can find many websites dedicated to this subject. You can find a quick video here to get get started.
However you go about it, building your own fairy house is a fun and creative DIY project.
We have a home on Pinterest too!
Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your content.
Please let me know. Many thanks
Please just share the link. I am in process of having one of my blogs featured on a high traffic blogsite (which costs a few bucks)and the post must be exclusive to them. I will shortly only be sharing the link to my own post ” How to Make a Stone Fairy House.” If you wanted to share any other post in some way other than just sharing the link that would be fine. It is so nice that you asked. Thanks for your co-operation, Marthe
I can’t wait to try one of the fairy houses. These are wonderful ideas, thank you!