Last year Shawn made a ghillie suit. It took him about 6 months to make the whole thing. He began with a camouflage jacket and hat and an old pair of corduroys. There were buckets of various colors of green and brown dye in the garage all summer and fall. He visited Walmart's fabric department over and over again buying yardage of burlap which he would then cut into lengths and unweave into piles of separate threads which he would dye and then in turn tie to the mesh he had sewn to the various articles of clothing. The last steps were trimming, sewing heavier material on the front to protect the fabric while crawling, and dyeing the gloves and shoes. It was quite a time consuming process! The suit is really amazing.
So, what does one do with a ghillie suit if one is not a sniper? One feeds the birds of course! Shawn and Julia put his suit to the test during Christmas break.
It was hard to snap pics because the birds landed so quickly and sometimes in such a great multitude. Shawn often had several birds on and around him at one time. The chickadees and the titmice were not shy at all and landed with amazing frequency on his hands, legs, shoes, head, and back. Then, they would hop into his outspread hands to nibble a safflower seed or two. To them he was some tree or bush. The cardinals were a bit more skittish as usual and would fly in and almost land, but at the last minute they would veer away.
Julia gave it a go too. The only way to tell it is her now is that bunch of hair sticking out the bottom of the head covering.
Getting up-close and personal with so many little feathered friends at one time makes a guy hungry!
It was really a special day.
Just in case you're itching to make one, here are some instructions to get you started. You'd better have a lot of time to kill!!
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