Ply wood wall birds

• 2400mm x 1200mm x 4mm untreated plywood panel
• Printouts of birds
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Jig saw or band saw
• Sandpaper
• Resene Colorwood wash in your choice of colours, Fleur used: Resene Shade, Rising Tide, Resene Becalm, Resene Bask, Resene Shore Thing
• Small speed brush

Instructions

How to make and paint your own ply wood wall birds:

Step 1
Start by printing out some silhouettes of native birds. Fleur used Tui, Kereru (Wood Pigeon), Kea, Kiwi and Pukeko. Cut these out and use a pencil to draw their outline on to a 4mm sheet of untreated plywood.

Step 2
Use a jig saw or band saw to cut the birds out. Sand any rough edges smooth with sandpaper.

Step 3
Apply a coat of Resene Colorwood colourwash to each of the birds. Fleur used Resene Shade, Rising Tide, Resene Becalm, Resene Bask and Resene Shore Thing. Fleur used a small speed brush which was quick and easy to use. Fleur only did one coat as she liked the way that the wood grain showed through, but if you want a darker, more intense colour then you could try doing more coats.

Step 4
Once dry, attach your birds to the wall. Fleur used Blu-tack, but if you want a sturdier fixture you could try a commercial wall hanging solution, small finishing nails or screws.

Top tip:  If birds don’t suit your space, try butterflies or falling leaves painted with Resene testpots as an alternative.

Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe. Jun 2022.