DIY ~ Silver Leafed Flamingo Fauxidermy

Hi lovelies!  This may be one of my fave DIYs, like ever.  I have these plastic flamingos on my patio that I've had for years and the poor guys have certainly seen better days; they're sun-faded and a little sad looking.  So I decided to spruce one up a bit, and bring him inside where he can shine and be the center of attention!  This project took an afternoon, and was really simple to do.  {Click for the how-to!}

You'll need:

So first we need to cut the flamingo in half.  The easiest way to do this is with a hacksaw, it really glided right through the guy like buttah (gotta throw the phonetic spelling of my RI accented words sometimes, it just makes more sense)

You'll need to prime your wood if it's raw, unstained wood (like mine is).  Otherwise, the wood will soak up all the adhesive for the leafing and it will just eff up your whole project.  Not totally, but it will make things a tinge more difficult.  I just used a white paint and quickly gave it a once-over.  Don't worry about it being even or streakish, this is just like a basecoat for your nails, if you will.  It should dry in just a few minutes as the wood will just soak up the paint.

Apply some E6000 glue around the cut part of the flamingo.

Press it into place on the wood plaque and let dry for about an hour.

Time to leaf it!  So I didn't get any action shots of the process, but simply brush on the adhesive, let it dry until it's tacky (which for me was about 5 minutes, or by the time I finished the adhesive, the parts I'd begun on were ready).  Follow the instructions on your leafing to adhere the sheets to your flamingo.  Brush away the excess, trying to use that excess to fill in any empty spots. Finally, use the liquid leafing and a brush to touch up any little spots that were hard to get (for me, this was the sides of the plaque).

Now you'll need something to hang the plaque up with.  I improvised and used a nail + soda can tab, and folded the nail down over it (well, hammered it) to hold it in place since the nail was too long and would have gone through the front.  Use what you have!  You could also use some wire and just glue a loop of it down with some E6000... get creative!

As a last minute addition, I came across this silver eyelash yarn that I thought would be perfect to hide the seam where the bird meets the backing.  It kind of looks like silver feathers, so it adds a little bit of grotesque-ness to the whole project.  Which I absolutely love.

I am so pleased with how this turned out, and can't wait to decide upon where to hang it (I think I've moved it around 5 times and there are so many holes in my walls I have to fill now).  So indecisive!

Is this something you'd make?  Are you a fan of fauxidermy?  What would you make?

xo
Lia