Over Thanksgiving, I brought back a treasured find my Aunt had given me from the land on their horse farm — this small bird's nest made almost entirely from horse hair. It made for the perfect little weekend art project!
I've seen nests with a single piece of hair in them before, but never so tiny in size, or made up entirely from horse hair — the full composition is truly such a sign of life and an artifact of nature.
My favorite detail on the nest is this bright blue single piece of thread intertwined within the back:
I knew I'd want to preserve this little nest in some format, both to protect its delicate nature from too much handing and as a way to work it into our decor as a regular reminder of the farm. Almost immediately on the drive home from Thanksgiving dinner it struck me — a small shadow box should do the trick nicely:
A shadow box is a great way to display 3-dimensional art and small mementos in a meaningful way. You might remember we did something similar to display the 1920's cake toppers and tandem letter from my grandmother at our wedding reception.
Shadow boxes are readily available in different shapes and sizes at local craft shops and you can find nicely personalized or custom size variations on Etsy.
I simply slid the glass top off the shadow box and used the provided pins to secure the nest on the black velvet backing, positioning them just so as to hide them from view.
Once secured, I quickly dusted away any fallen fragments and wiped the inside of the glass to ensure everything inside was clear, because it's the nest we want to take center stage here, right?
We ended up hanging the shadow box with a smaller gallery format in our home office. More to come on that soon, but here's a sneak peek:
It's been such a nice little piece of personal art to have around the house and a sweet reminder of the farm and family.
Discover More
love this idea!
ReplyDelete