I’m making just 50 sets of these winter feeder bird painted flattie ornaments for this holiday season. These ornaments are created from the very patterns that I use to carve 50 Little Birds - an installation that spent the summer at the Indianapolis International Airport.

Each piece is finished exactly like I finish my carvings. Every step - more than 14 - is carried out on every bird. There is one exception. The carvings are in-the-round  and I use glass eyes. For the flatties I needed a flat alternative. As decoy carvers  have for centuries, I often use tack eyes - eyes made from nails or tacks. Modern nails are always shiny and plated. When we think of old steel and iron, we expect a dark grey or black. Each of these nails has to heated to rose red and dipped in an oil solution that I developed to get the right color. They are then inserted, trimmed and peened to attach them to the bird. (Peening is hammering the end of a nail or rivet to swell the end and hold it in place.)

These aren’t your Hallmark ornaments. These are not the hand painted ornaments made in Asia for the mass market. These hand crafted, one-at-a-time by an artist you can talk to. An artist that knows that you expect value. An artist that strives to keep his work known and relevant so that your pieces will retain their value..

Birds are available individually or in a set of five. The set of five includes one each: Northern Cardinal, Dark Eyed Junco, Carolina Chickadee, American Goldfinch and a Tufted Titmouse.

They range from 5” to 6” x 1/8” and are painted on one side. Each hangs from waxed Maine Thread - sourced from…..Maine.