meadowflower ([info]meadowflower) wrote in [info]cockatiels,
@ 2004-12-05 18:36:00
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Current mood: grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

1 Second Destruction
I decided to make some of our own toys based on some posts in the [info]cockatiels forum. I wanted to save money and have toys that Couscous could play with in her cage.

After spending a LOT of time going around to several stores trying to find everything yesterday, we spent the afternoon today painting wooden beads and little squares of balsa wood with food coloring. The balsa wood we got was so thin (I didn't know!) We should have got the really thick wood. After much frustration, I got these cute little thin pieces of balsa wood and beads strung on this jute. I don't give up on things easily, but I just didn't like this after the balsa started breaking and the stringing became hard. It went from fun to not fun very fast.



Looks ok, right? This one is for my sister. It will suffer the same consequences as Couscous' toy (see below) but well...don't they say that it's the thought that counts?

And here's a closeup of the detailed stenciling:


I put it in Couscous' cage and two seconds later it was like this:

Um, the food-coloring painted wooden beads are cool, but where are the stenciled balsa wood pieces? Snapped into pieces at the bottom of the cage. 2 seconds flat. Snap snap snap.


OK so well...that was frustrating but at least we have a cool beaded jute toy. Play play.

I'm not going to go back and get thicker balsa wood or anything; I won't do this again. (at least I tried, though, right? And no one told me to paint cutie pictures on the balsa!) :-) I know those toys in the stores are like, $3.99 to $5.99 for the smaller ones. But my time is money too, and it is quite valuable to me. I spent an extraordinarily amount more in money and time than the $5.99 retail for a toy from PetSmart that I might twice a year.

Anyway I have lots of jute and some beads left, so we can make some more beaded things quickly if need be. But no more taking exhorbitant amounts of time trying to make crafty birdie toys. I learned a lesson today too about spending my time more wisely.

And we have another tiel that might be coming to the house Tuesday. I made him a plain ol' jute and beads toy. Took me only a few minutes.

posted to [info]cockatiels and [info]meadowflower


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[info]nyrchicky
2004-12-06 12:36 am UTC (link)
That's so cute. He's looking at them like, "Where did they go?"

Mine do that too. So amazed by gravity.

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[info]meadowflower
2004-12-06 04:09 am UTC (link)
Yeah at least she got some play out of them later. She stretched down upside down to get a piece of broken wood from the bottom of her cage and played with that for a bit.

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[info]ltdead
2004-12-06 01:31 am UTC (link)
Yeah... the initial cost when making your own stuff can be a lot. But I bought a whole bunch of beads, raffia, balsa wood, corn husks, etc... for about $20, and then sat around making enjoy toys for about 50 birds when I was volunteering at the animal shelter. I definately couldn`t afford to go out and buy enough toys for all those birds. So in the long run, it saves money.

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[info]meadowflower
2004-12-06 04:08 am UTC (link)
I think that's definitely true if you're going to make a lot of toys for a lot of birds. You bought balsa wood - did you use the thicker pieces or the thinner ones? It kind of frustrated me that the money and time we spent on that was gone in two seconds. I think maybe I'd buy all wood beads next time and things that can't be torn up quickly and go that route.

I was going to buy raffia too, but I was running up against my budget... :-D

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[info]ltdead
2004-12-06 04:40 am UTC (link)
I bought a bag of varied sizes. Some where thin like what you used, some were big ol` blocks. Some birds had preferences for one or the other. (Maya just loved the big ol` blocks, especially if you wrapped them up in some corn husks first. I had to wrap her up a new block at least once a week).
Something that was really popular with all the birds was just raffia braided together with some bright colored plastic beads strung along it, along with a bell or two. I used to make those while I sat watching TV so I could bring them along to the shelter when I went.

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[info]meadowflower
2004-12-06 02:54 pm UTC (link)
I'd remembered I'd had a bunch of raffia upstairs. Ok to use the colored? Or must it be natural?

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[info]ltdead
2004-12-07 09:31 am UTC (link)
I wouldn`t trust the colored, myself... you`d have to know what it`s colored with.

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[info]babymonkey
2004-12-06 02:11 am UTC (link)
Oh, that's sad! They were very pretty :)

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[info]meadowflower
2004-12-06 04:08 am UTC (link)
Well, she had a good time. :-D

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[info]soniabunny
2004-12-06 01:15 pm UTC (link)
I've given up on making complicated toys for my beebs. I used to be just lazy and cut off bits of hemp string for them to destroy, but now it's to the point that I let them have the whole ball of twine to do with as they will. ;p Human children are the same way-- you get them these great presents and they want to play with the box or a dishrag.

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[info]meadowflower
2004-12-06 02:54 pm UTC (link)
Very true!

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[info]mommybird
2004-12-06 07:33 pm UTC (link)
Human children are the same way-- you get them these great presents and they want to play with the box or a dishrag.

Hee, that's what my mother always said! Rembrandt loves his socks more than anything I can buy him. His favorite store-bought toy is Shredders, which is braided palm leaf--easy to destroy and not expensive to buy.

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