{Project} Bird Bath

I was given this giant brass lamp when I moved into my first place alone. It was free and worked for the time being. Fast forward 8 years and we're in our house, trying to make it a home. This lamp hasn't been used in over 5 years and was sitting in our junk room's closet. I donated the lamp shade to the local charity organization (our version of Good Will) and so I needed to find something to do with the base or it was going to be donated too.

Enter a new project - a couple days ago I saw someone take a lamp base and make into yard art. I figured I could do this and make either a bird bath or a bird feeder. I already have three bird feeders in the yard and although that's never enough for the neighborhood birds (I swear I'm the only one who feeds them!), I really didn't want another one. So I figured I'd make a bird bath. I don't have one yet and it would be nice addition to Lily's Garden.

So, I started with the base of the lamp. After a good cleaning, I was left with this in all of it's brassy goodness:

Before. Brass.

Before - brass, ugly, gigantic!

Underneath. I cut the wires with my kitchen sheers.

I knew I didn't need the wiring at all, so I cut it with my scissors. I did keep the lamp shade halo thing in case I need to exhange one on another lamp of mine. The brown felt on the bottom was nasty and I ripped it all off to expose the wire but also because I knew it would just get wet and possibly moldy if it was outside.
Now that I had the base ready, I needed to figure out what I was going to make the bowl with. At first I thought a ceramic plate from the garden center would work but they were out of the size I wanted. That ended up being a good thing becauase after "shopping" my home, I found this unused fountain base that I got for free when I was a freshman in college.

BEFORE! An old bowl from a table top fountain (that was free while at college) that was taking up shelf space in my basement.

Before - inside.

Here's the base all spray painted up... it's a gorgeous metallic color that's part ORB (oil rubbed bronze) and part glittery goodness. The spray paint and the glue are the only things I bought and I have plenty left over of both for future projects.

Before the disk like shape was glued on (to help support the bowl).

Disk placement before glueing on the bowl.

Underneath. You can see a little bit of the glue dripping down. Ignore the window behind this... that's our basement and a horrible mess (and curtains from the previous homeowner).

And here it is! I'm letting the glue dry overnight before filling it up with water. I think the birdies will like it!