Owl Cage

We have these corkscrew willow trees that have thin, twity branches.  The other day was nice, and I thought of making some of the branches into a little cage to go on a shelf in my son's room.  It seems like I've been seeing a lot of bird cages for kids rooms lately.

Like this cute girl's room {image from Pottery Barn}.  These metal birdcages are $99.00.

So since I have a boy, I thought maybe I could make a more rustic, natural boy version.

So we chopped down a few, thin, flexible willow branches, a plastic deli lid, wire, and a hot glue gun.  Some of them could arch without breaking, making a rainbow shape.  I hot glued the ends to the lid, which became the base.  Other sticks I glued to the base and glued to the top.

I spray painted the cage red, put scrapbook paper in the bottom, and decided it would house an owl.

The owl is a little stuffed gray corduroy guy.  I just glued on the eyes, beak and wings with the hot glue gun.  The eyes are black buttons.

To hang the owl, I sewed fishing line through the top of the head, and tied it to the top of the cage, and then glued his bum on the stick that's the perch.

It's on my son's shelf and I'm not in love with it. 

I thought the twisty branches would make the next look really cool, but it kind of just looks creepy to me.

I've got another cage brewing using different branches that so far is working better.

Although if painted black with a bat or crow in it, this would be one creepy Halloween cage.  Maybe next to a jar of eyeballs this would look awesome where as it is sitting next to a giraffe and baby photo, it just seems out of place.  It's going to stay, because I do like the little owl, but maybe not my best creation.

I don't know, what do you think?