This Hungarian folk art birdhouse craft is a sweet way to bring a little more Hungarian folk art into your home!

As an avid flower-lover and gardener of Hungarian heritage, the motifs and colors of Matyó embroidery have always appealed to me. Like many people nowadays, turning to nature and various forms of crafty pursuit helps distract me from the seemingly endless stream of worrisome news.

As I’ve enjoyed coloring the Valentine’s Day and  Easter Egg Designs, and Christmas ornaments that Liz provided, I recently thought of another way I could use Hungarian motifs in a small project. The project is simple, if multi-stepped, and the results are quite cheerful. Because I’d used the templates Liz provided, I wanted to show her the finished birdhouse and she in turn asked if I’d like to write up a short description and provide my method and materials. I hope that you’ll want to make this sweet birdhouse in order to bring yourself or someone else joy!

Egészséget és boldogságot kívánok!
Alison

Alison (nee Király) lives in  Connecticut with her husband. She is a semi-retired librarian who enjoys bird watching, gardening, reading, dancing, making jewelry and mosaics. 

METHOD

• Use sandpaper to remove all rough edges on the birdhouse.
• Paint all surfaces of the house with one coat of gesso. Let dry. Wash brush.
• Give the house 2-3 coats of white acrylic paint, drying as needed per coat. (I used the same brush I used for the gesso.)
• Print out the ornament designs you want to use and cut them to fit where you want to place them on the house.
• Cut piece of carbon tracing paper to fit underneath the design and then trace the design lightly with pencil to transfer it to the white paint.
• Use thin detail brush to paint the outlines of flowers, birds, etc. first and then go back and fill in the shapes. You should be able to do a few sides at a time, maybe even all sides if you are careful. Let dry.
• Touch up any mistakes with white paint, sometimes carbon paper will leave an unwanted imprint but you can just paint over it. Let dry.
• Glue the small bird to opening or perch. Or if you have luck affixing it with the little wire it comes with, that’s fine too.
• If you’re a good copier/artist, you can obviously skip the carbon paper step and just copy the motifs onto the birdhouse.

MATERIALS USED

From Magyar Living
*Hungarian Valentine’s and Easter Egg designs. (Click on the links)

From Michael’s Crafts
*Small unpainted wooden birdhouse found in the 99 cent bins typically at front of store.
*Ashland brand small bird.
*Folk Art PLAID brand acrylic paint, Matte Hunter Green.

From Walmart

• Apple Barrel brand acrylic paints in the following colors: All are Matte
• White for background. Blue Kazoo, Bright Red, Flamenco Red, New Shamrock, Sunny Day,
• Pink Eraser, Cameo Pink, Petunia Purple, and Violet for flowers, leaves, bird body. Flamingo Coral for pepper. Kings Gold for bird beak, Territorial Beige for bird feet, and Violet for bird eye.
• Folk Art brand Premium Detail Brushes, 10 pc. pack. Experiment first on scrap to find the size brush that works for you.

Additional materials I had on hand:

• Sandpaper, I used both P Grade and A weight, though I doubt it matters what grade or weight.
• White texture gesso for acrylic and oil paints, and brush for applying it.
• Carbon tracing paper.
• Weldbond glue to affix bird.