what to do with a bird cage?

[steiconi]

I got a lovely birdcage on freecycle yesterday.  It's about 30" tall, 12" diameter round cage with removable top and bottom, plus an 18" high stand.

So now what?  I was thinking of using it for a miniature scene, maybe subdividing and doing 2 or 3 one above the other.

Or lining it with rice paper or covering it with fabric and making a lamp.

Or I could use it for plants, or even get a bird...

But none of these ideas appeals to me right now.  Any suggestions?

thanks!
Lee

[pinokeeo]

How about a mobile?  Or a windchime?

[ethertree]

I personally really like the lamp idea and the wind chime idea. I'll try to put my thinking cap on . . .

I once had an art project idea (now abandoned, so I don't care who uses it) to make a symbolic "caged bird" scenario - craft a plain-looking bird to have perched on the outside looking in at the cage, then create a beautiful, eye-stunning bird inside the cage looking enviously out at the free one. No doubt it's been done, but I think it would look nice, and might be a conversation starter (think of all of the scenarios, contemporary and otherwise, that that could apply to).

How about voodoo? Have a professor you never liked? A former significant other you hold a grudge against? A public figure, character or anthropomorphic personification you just can't stand? Make a doll or model of them and put them in the cage, the hang it from the ceiling so that all in the room can see their shame. *evil grin*
WARNING: Has not been tested for karmic effects. May contribute to unfavorable reincarnations. Proceed with caution.

Hmm, what else . . .

If its door is tiny, you could line it with either mesh or clear plastic of some sort, fill it with candy, and use it as a sort of gumball dispenser. I don't have to mention that you might want to clean it VERY thoroughly first.

I'm a sculpture person (and an elipses person) . . .  use it as the "ribcage" of a bird sculpture - instead of putting a bird in the cage, put the cage in a bird/ make the cage an integral structural component of the bird. Maybe make its heart viewable from inside the cage. Lots of symbolism there too. It would be pretty big, but that's something I would definitely do if I ever had a bird cage of those specs.

Edit: I think I actually might do this.

Good luck!

[steiconi]

What interesting ideas!  I don't get the windchime one--cut the cage up into strips?  Hang stuff from it or in it to chime?  But since I don't like windchimes, I guess it doesn't matter.   (We're housesitting for friends who have at least a dozen windchimes.  I've clipped their wind-catching flaps together with clothespins so they don't make so much noise!)

Still am not fired up with the right idea for this, any other suggestions? 

Of course, I could put a light up at the top with a voodoo figure beside it, build a bird on the outside, hang chimes beneath, and fill the rest with candy...

[moonshinebluebird]

I think the lamp idea sounds really neat. Somehow keeping the bird cage look?

You know... you know what I would do with it?

I'd hang it up in my craft room and put all my yarn in it, stuff it to the max with yarn.  Why?

Because I like to see my yarn and how pretty it all is, just about as much as my wonderful kitties like to EAT my yarn and kill it slowly.

Yes, that is what I'd do with it, I'd cage yarn.

I did see a pretty shot in a magazine of a lady who had an antique birdcage hanging from a pretty stand and it was full of candles.

My second option would be a plant. (again, protection from the feline variety)  Probably an orchid or something... but maybe a climbing variety with smaller leaves vs. larger ones.

If you were into stained glass perhaps you could do some renovating and refit some parts with beautiful stained glass and hang it where light shines (or put some led lights inside)

Ok, now I would like bird cages! you fuel my thrift store addiction

[Magic8]

You could plant a mini garden in it
I like the sculpture idea.... I'd make a heart-in-a-cage sculpture (after the song by that name by the Strokes ...love that song)

[poorandweird]

assemble a bird skeleton and put it in there.

Or alternatively if you don't feel like macerating bones then i recommend making a bird skeleton out of clay.

Either way, dead birds for the win.

[steiconi]

Some really cool ideas! 
But a friend took one look at it and said, "I'm taking it, it's going to be a fairy habitat."  So forceful!  Since I wasn't all fired up about it, and it was free anyway, I let here have it.  It is now half-coated in paper mache, with twigs and leafy things growing out of it.  I can hardly wait to see it finished!

[bookstorebabe]

I love the fairy habitat idea! And the garden one-the ribs of the cage would be a building, like a conservatory, a greenhouse, or a gazebo-small plants, a bench, two tiny lovers necking...
What I did with a cage years ago-
my daughter's room was a looney toons theme-I hung the cage, put a stuffed tweety bird inside it, and put a stuffed sylvester on the outside of the cage, trying to get to tweety. It looked cute hanging from her ceiling.

[T-shirt Challengers]

How about using it as a planter/visual pun...you could plant "Birds of Paradise"