How to Make a Drinking Bird

Fill one glass bulb with methylene chloride. Use rubber gloves when handling this chemical. You can find it at some hardware stores, where it is sold as a paint stripper. Otherwise, it is available online.

Insert the glass tube into this bulb so that it almost touches the bottom, and seal the connection between bulb and tube using a flowable silicone sealer.

Secure the second glass bulb to the top of the tube using the silicone sealer.

Cover the top bulb with felt or another material such that it can be made to resemble a bird's head. Secure it using the instant glue. It is important to add a beak or a bill. This bill can be made by simply adding a pinch in the felt where the bird's mouth should be.

Construct your two stands. With the saw, taper each block of wood from bottom to top. Drill holes through each block, near the top, large enough so that the bolt you use in the next step will roll easily within them.

Attach a hose clamp to the center of the tube. To tighten the clamp use a long bolt, which you insert between the holes in each stand in such a way that the glass armature swings freely between the two stands. The hose should be positioned at the front of the bird so that the bird lists forward when inserted between the stands.

Position the completed structure in front of a glass of water.

Find the proper proportion between bird and glass height so that when the bird tips over, the lip of the glass stops it before it becomes horizontal.

Dunk the head of the bird in the glass of drinking water. Set the bird down beside the glass.

As water evaporates from the head of the bird, the cycle begins.