How to make a brass bird cage dress in twenty-five easy steps

This instructable will teach you how to wrangle brass sufficiently enough to create a flattering and practical dress that doubles as a functional bird cage.

It's perfect for casual Fridays at the office. Steer clear of cats, coal mines, ferrets and weasels.

Step 1 Beginnings...

Creating a functional birdcage dress was something I had wanted to do for quite a while. Most illustrations of the concept that I had seen lacked legs, which made the idea of creating the real thing quite appealing. It seemed like a fun challenge.

I began by scouring the mighty internet for birdcage and crinoline photos in order to consider potential shapes and see what might actually be feasible. I also started thinking about materials and researching how actual bird cages are built. Sketching helped to conceptualize the ideas that were running around in my head.

Comments

[sunshiine]

Wow! This is amazing! Thanks for sharing all the very hard work and fun ible!

[Kasey]

Thank you very much!

[sunshiine]

Your are welcome! I love this!

[noahh]

This is astounding. Well done.

[Kasey]

Thank you!

[mrsdawnlopez]

That's incredible. Great idea and execution. :)

[kooyma]

just saw this for the first time- soooooo painfully awe-inspiringly artistic neato-keen!
Have to admit I immediately thought finches (they can be a bit noisy too) or hummingbirds -but the fluffy chicken thing would be a treat!
Great to see this level of artistry here- have you sold it to a museum yet? What a fantastic WORK of art!
And kudos on the welding bit- I'll be taking a class this spring time permitting.
big happy appreciation for this i'ble!!

[Boden]

 hey, my roommates and i love this thing!
i was just browsing instructables at work, and happened to find this one. ironic, because we live in building 620 :)

see you at artwalk!

[Kryptonite]

The ribbons express the curvaceousness of the weather rather well by pulling taught in certain areas. That's quite clever.

[Kryptonite]

Wow, this is the most amazing thing I have seen in a long, long time. The amount of time you must have spent on this is amazing! The intricate work, the wonderful out come, the oxy-acetylene torch, the coal mines!

I am lost for words, you really know your stuff and are evidently truly devoted, well done! 5 stars! Favorited!

[peace-to-earth]

if you made it from aluminum, thinned the metal strips and brought up the bottom, could you actually wear it? the possibilities *sigh*

[canida]

Wow, this is incredibly awesome! You really don't do anything half-way. I like the chickens better, too. They're larger and have more character than doves. Maybe some really fluffy silkie chickens?

[Kasey]

Agreed... a gaggle of chickens in there would be such fun. The dress is huge - it could feasibly fit ten or so large chickens in it comfortably... Glad you like it :)

[DragonSpike]

I had a peacock but he died :( I'm going to buy a peacock and peahen, so I could walk around in my skirt and they would just sit there... they don't do much :). Awesome awesome instructable

[peace-to-earth]

Maybe you could have little peachicks running around! lol

[FishyFTW]

OH COOL! I wish I had a peacock.. that would be cool..

[miseleigh]

How about wood ducks? The ones with the shiny fancy coloring. Although I don't know how they'd do in a cage rather than water, and I don't know where you'd get them. Pheasants or cockatiels? A large bird with a lot of color would look awesome, but chickens just seem... tame, I guess. This dress is amazing, by the way.

[canida]

To me, the attraction of chickens is that they are big and loud. Maybe roosters, or very grouchy geese?

[Lithium Rain]

Guineas! If loud is what you want, that's what you'd put in there. They are about the loudest fowl known to creation. They never stop yammering!

[ebayebay1]

has no purpose and hats y its awesom

[cutekitten]

its pretty

[Tamsinhull]

Beautiful! x

[whiteoakart]

This is truly amazing. I can not think of any reason to ever make this myself, but, really, I am stunned.

[jet_966]

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/pneumatic.php

[gmjhowe]

Boing Boing just featured this!

Great work, i love how unique it is.

[jaysbob]

whats the final weight of this? Considering its all brass I'm guessing pretty flippen heavy lol. amazing visionary work though. looks like it really took some serious sweat and dedication to have it realized the way you wanted it. Also great work on the instructable itself, very well put together and photographed, made for an interesting read. I also can't help but think how amazing this would look with a nice heavy patina. Although I also can't reconcile that with what a crime it would be to leave this outside for the length of time it would take to develop it.

[Kasey]

Thank you :) I need to do some receipt tallying to get an exact weight. I'll get back to you on that. I can absolutely say that it is quite heavy. It sits on fourteen small brass casters and they move decently, but it's still a lot of weight to push. If I had to guess I'd say maybe 50 lbs??... I agree, a patina could look amazing. The cleaning process is arduous, though, so I may hold off for a bit. I can, however, guarantee that it will see patina at some point...

[unjust]

wow. beautiful.

[Kasey]

Thanks so much.

[bigmark]

great job!! i love a woman who can weld.

[uguy]

Yeah nothing quite as sexy as a woman with a torch. Great job, very well done. Thanks for sharing.

[canida]

Thankfully, Instructables is full of hot welders of all genders. I think welders are by definition hot? ;)
Some of the women on the site build their own welders too.

[Kasey]

Ayup, welding is pretty hot by nature. Thanks guys :)

[jessyratfink]

This is absolutely stunning! I've been wanting to make a chastity belt of sorts and your project is helping me with inspiration. :D

[Kasey]

Thanks so much. Best of luck with your project!

[espacioapropiado]

Just one word...a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!! thank you for sharing...

[Kasey]

Thank you kindly :)

[blondie952]

OH my god! I love you so much. For my year twelve fashion design final piece I intended on creating a crinoline! I cannot thank you enough for this resource. With your permission (With full credit of course) could I show this in my folio and use this as a guide to producing my own crinoline?

[Kasey]

Thanks! You're welcome to use the piece as a reference. Keep in mind, though, that it is quite a diversion from a standard crinoline. Good luck with your project and keep me posted on your progress. I'm happy to help if you have questions.

[freek723]

What do you estimate was your overall cost for materials? I love the brass, and have been considering an inverted underwire dress for a steampunk costume.