Chatbug Karen

This weeks topic at Heads or Tails is “Wire”. Bird on a wire popped into my head and I started thinking about birdcages. Who makes birdcages?

My Internet search led me to discover that many bird cages are made in Thailand. They are not the typical wire ones but I thought it was a wonderful form of art. Some bird fanciers are happy to pay high prices for fine cages, as they consider making birdcages to be an art, especially old cages with fine handiwork, such as the specialised “Sa-teng” shape from gala and “Ko-yi” form Pattani. The older are rarer they are, the more expensive they get.
The area around Community 5 in Nong Jork has many people making beautiful birdcages that are very popular with the dove fanciers, whose tastes determine the shape and size of the cages. For instance, a classic Sa-teng or Ko-yi cage might start at 3,000 Baht and go up to as much as 50,000 Baht.
Material: Choice of material is characteristic of this kind of birdcage, such as rattan, ivory and talipot tree stem, and wood from the woody climber Dalbergia for the bars.
Hook: Cast in metal and carved, and it is popular to carve in shapes of auspicious animals such as swans and dragons. Roof: Made from wood or ivory sawed and turned on a lathe. Some?times it is carved with intricate patterns, and sometimes ivory is also used to make the patch.
Bars: Made from the horns of an albino buffalo which are translucent, shiny, and extremely rare, or wood is used such as Plerocapus or Dalbergia.