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The Kenyan Collection comes from a collaboration among business people and
artisans showcasing the wonderful and diverse culture that is Kenya. The goal is
to provide people a greater opportunity to share their talent and improve their
lives.
To create these fanciful birds, the artisan
and his family use trimmings from jacaranda trees on nearby tea plantations in
Kenya. The artist carves sitting in an old car
seat near his home while his wife does the painting in a little workshop
nearby. When things get busy the children help out when they are not in
school. The bird mobiles consist of 3 strings of birds (with 4 birds on each
string) and one bird on top perched on a natural twig. No two are alike. All
of the birds are fashioned after North American birds, except one which is a
Kenyan bird. The artist also creates mobiles of one large single bird or a trio of
birds perched on a twig as well as owls, pheasants, cardinals, blue jays and a
mallard duck. While we do not call the bird’s weather proof, we know
they are at home in the outdoors because when Joan of The Kenyan Collection
visited an artist's family, she enjoyed the
wonderful sight of these birds hanging from trees near their home drying in the
Kenyan weather. The artist smiled proudly when he was told by Joan that he
must be putting a
little bit of magic in each creation. That is due to the fact that when people see them, they just gaze
at them with a big smile . . . trying to pick which one they want to take home.
Learn more about this artist's family here.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These
items ship directly from the distributor and arrive separately from
other ordered items at the Land of PureGold. It is recommended that if other
types of items are desired that the orders be placed
separately. The line is only available for shipment in the United States.
Most items cannot be shipped to a PO Box.
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Hand Carved Wooden Bird Bouquets
To create these fanciful birds, the artisan and his family use trimmings from
jacaranda trees on nearby tea plantations in Kenya.
Your bouquet comes packed in a floral box with tissue. Bouquets of a half dozen
or full dozen are available, and are bundled with gold accent sticks. The
Bouquet of 6 birds includes 5 North American birds and 1 African Bird. The
Bouquet of 12 Birds includes10 North American birds and 2 African birds). Though not entirely weather proof, they are weather resistant.
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6 Bird Bouquet $28
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12 Bird Bouquet $56
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Hand Carved
Wooden Bird Mobile
Mobiles have 3 strings of birds with 4 birds on each strip, and one bird perched
on the main twig. They include a mix of North American and African birds. Though not entirely weather proof, they are weather resistant.
Brighten up the corner of any room with a string bird
mobile. Carved wooden American birds painted in lovely
colors sit on or hang from sticks and move gently in the
wind. Hang 3 or 4 together to create your own colorful
aviary. Each one has something special that makes it unique.
Price: $30.
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Hand Carved Wooden Individual Birds
Carved and painted by the same artisans that creates the birds
for our bouquets and mobiles, these birds are larger and stand
on a shelf or mantle. All are approximately the size of
the actual bird.
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| Mallard Duck $50
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Owl $22
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Ring-Necked Pheasant $50
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 The
income from the sales of these birds has enabled this
family to re-enroll their
eldest son in school. The children had been withdrawn from school when he lost
his job as a truck driver for a company that closed. With 30% unemployment he
worried about how he was going to support his family. He went to the big open
air market in Nairobi and studied all the activities, determined to find a way
to generate income. He realized that he had learned wood carving in school as a
young boy and decided to try and renew his carving skills. The folks from The
Kenyan Collection found him selling
a smaller version of the mobiles on the outskirts of the market (the wait to get
an official spot in the market can be long). They gave him some suggestions for
improving his product, a bird book for reference and some new paint brushes for
his wife. This family has have delivered orders without fail and their products seem to get
more beautiful with each order.
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