In Search of Bird Baths

Recently, I concluded that my garden is in need of a water feature. Fearing I might blend, and knowing I don't need yet another "thing to maintain," I decided I would seek out a bird bath. What is a bird bath? Is it simply a dish on a pedestal? During my search, I discovered that a requirement of every bird bath is that is must be horrifically ugly. Why would a bird want to bathe in that? And, why on earth would I want that in my yard? Not only were they all hideous, but they were expensive as well. Insult atop injury, I was even more determined to find one that was amazing, even if I had to make it myself. Insert dramatic music here. I may be an artist, but I am also a perfectionist, which simply put, means that most of the projects that I start are amazing, but few of them every are finished. 

Make it myself? How would that work? So, now I'm on a shopping mission to find the perfect parts for my bird bath. Partie deux? To do it on the cheap. First stop, The Home Depot, where I find a giant vase on a stem for forty bucks. Ugly. Next stop, TJMaxx, where I find a terra cotta bird bath, glazed in red paint. Really? Red paint? Moving along. On the way to my car, I decide to pop into Pier 1 Imports, where a very friendly, but not too friendly, store manager asks if she can help me. Afraid to tell her what I am looking for, fearing she might show me the grand prize winner of the ugliest bird bath contest, I reluctantly get the words out. "I'm looking for a bird bath, but..." She interrupts and proceeds to tell me about how this woman had been in there the other day and made one out of a table and a dish. Realizing my original idea is anything but, I listen. She said the woman used the base of one of these tables and put a hand-blown glass dish on it. "It was stunning," she continued. Well, I thought to myself, "If hers was stunning, then mine needs to be extraordinary."

Looking around, I finally found a base I liked on a table that had a broken top, so the helpful manager gave it to me for a discount. Then I began my hunt for a unique dish, which would either make this a work of art or yet another unsightly bird bath. Twenty minutes later, I went back to TJMaxx and found the perfect top -- a copper dish with an asymmetric aqua leaf glaze. Sparkling and alluring, I figured you would have to be one dumb bird not to want to bathe in such a lavish plash.