Since earliest childhood I have always been fascinated by the clever things people use for bird baths. Ingenuity impresses me.

Last week I watched a gardening show and I got quite interested when the designer of the woodsy garden said she was implementing a discarded aluminum trash can lid as a bird bath! So I paid attention.

She spray painted the trash lid with a copper color. She put a fairly wide copper pipe into the ground and put the lid on top. Turning the lid upside down, the handle fit into the pipe just fine. Then she added some stones to give the lid more weight and filled 'er up with water.

I was amazed at how attractive that was when completed.

Anyone else have cool ideas for bird baths? Didn't I read a thread about making one of a cast of a rhubarb leaf?

Merme

yep you did but I can't remember where it was. Fernie was doing it I think. A sand caste I think she called it.

I'm thinking along the lines of the hundreds (ok not hundreds) but bunches of plastic shallow containers I get for one thing and another. Since I am on a slope for the garden I was thinking I could do something small in several pools using the colored stones to keep them grounded. Maybe something interwoven around the hostas and japanese painted ferns that I hope to have placed correctly next year.

Anyone else have cool ideas for bird baths? Didn't I read a thread about making one of a cast of a rhubarb leaf?>>>

I always thought this one was cool. You can paint it any color. I have to try one of these! Just moved here into this house and don't have a birdbath yet. I can make a few of these relatively cheaply.

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/kc_recycled/article/0,2025,DIY_13975_2273149,00.html

Not sure if this idea is creative enough but I saw a bird bath made out of clay pots and saucer. Basically, you start with 3 different size pots, large, medium and small, turn them upside down and stack them and finish with a large sized saucer for the bird bath. The creative part was how the people decorated the clay pots. Painted, glued shells, stones etc on the pots. I think though they need to be sealed so they hold the water longer. I think if you do a google search on making your own bird bath, you may find this and probably others. Good luck.

I was just going for cost and function when I decided to use a saucer as well, the ones that go under your pot. It works great and it's so cute to watch the birds enjoy it. They don't really "bathe" but drink out of it, scooping the beak down and tilting the head back to swallow. I suppose they use it to drink out of since it's about 8 feet from the feeder. Anyways bird baths were too expensive so I spent $6 and voila!