I want to change the color of a white plastic birdbath. Non-toxically.

July 23, 2020 12:08 PM

I bought a cheap white plastic birdbath. I am painting the column with spray paint and acrylics. The bowl part is blindingly white and I want to paint it too, but I don’t want to use anything that might harm the birds. Suggestions?

I am worried about anything that might flake off, like acrylics, or leach chemicals into the water. I’m not particular about the color, I just want it less blindingly white. I mean, it would be nice if it was blue or green but brown is fine. I thought about trying to stain it with tea but I’m not sure it would work, the plastic seems pretty impervious. I guess I could sand it but that seems as if it might make the plastic itself more toxic. The bowl is very shallow and I feel like filling it with rocks or something would make it less appealing to the birds. Basically, the birds are the priority.

posted by mygothlaundry to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

I've considered projects like this, and I think my highly experimental inclination would be to use food-safe resin/epoxy type coating. Might be challenging with the shape though, to get it to stick and not pool?

Alternately - I really hate my one commercial birdbath because it needs to be staked down to not get knocked over by squirrels/wind, but getting the bowl clean after it's staked down is a freaking nightmare. I build solar fountain birdbaths from other stuff, and one of my favorite "basins" is a 12-20" saucer for a very large plant pot. Sturdy, animal safe, UV safe, easy enough to weigh down with one big rock, easy to whip off and spray clean then put back and refill.

So basically maybe put a birdbath IN (or ON) your birdbath.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:28 PM on July 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

Krylon fusion paint is kind of expensive (for spray paints anyways), but designed to adhere to plastic. I’ve used it on multiple outdoor applications and if care is taken to apply the paint correctly (namely cleaning the item very well and letting it dry completely before painting, and letting each coat dry completely) I’ve never had it flake or chip, aside from instances where the item was a total loss. Like, I painted some latches and hinges with that paint and it was fine until a car crashed through the fence and gate they were mounted on. Indestructible no, but they lasted a couple years of regular, daily use by our mail carrier.

High temperature paint usually only had a limited number of colors (usually quite dark) but that shit, krylon or not, is nigh indestructible too. I don’t know if it takes to plastics well.
posted by furnace.heart at 3:31 PM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

I used Lyn Never’s solution above for years, very successfully. After my birdbath broke, in fact, I removed the food safe large plastic dish I’d used and put it on the ground. Doves and critters still use it. Being able to remove it made it MUCH easier to clean effectively, too.

A stainless steel insert would work, too, if it weren’t in direct sun. Just make sure it’s not so deep that a wet bird can’t hop out.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 7:20 PM on July 23, 2020

I also use large terra cotta saucers as birdbaths and just spray them out periodically with the "jet" setting of my hose. The birds looooooooooooove them. I have two on the ground and one on a riser. It's a birdbath party out there all of the time. Bonus, honeybees can crawl on the lip of the saucer to take a sip of water without falling in.
posted by desuetude at 10:56 AM on July 24, 2020 [1 favorite]