This is a project young and old may do together too – little hands love painting (check on Council requirements and don’t come up with something too ‘paisley’ or you may have to repaint ) – and older hands are steadier on some of the power tools that may be required.Īs a gift, a nice and useful addition to your own home, or a means for adding something quite unique to all those fundraising stalls, this is one that will bring enjoyment and confidence to other DIY undertakings once done. An afternoon project that allows you to choose your own kind of weather vane, or the traditional rooster, arrow or ship decals made from stencils, is sure to please and draw the eye to whichever way the wind is blowing a little more than the versions you can purchase ready to mount.

The earliest American weather vanes were either made by metalsmiths, who hand-formed and hammered the shapes from copper or other metals or crafted by the farmers themselves, from wood.This may be a bit challenging for some and easy for others. Every 18th- and 19th-century American farm or homestead had its own weather vane to assist in weather prognostication. While a single weather vane might have been sufficient for a European village, where townsfolk lived in a more communal environment, that was not the case across the Atlantic, where land was abundant and settlers were largely self-sufficient.

The practice of placing weather vanes on top of barns was widespread in colonial America. Today, vanes of this type can still be seen as decorative elements on churches and other buildings in Scandinavia. The Vikings used handcrafted bronze weather vanes as directional devices on their ships. In fact, by the 9th century A.D., weathercocks had become a mandatory addition to every church steeple, by decree of Pope Nicholas. This may have led to the practice of a cockerel weather vane being placed atop church steeples in predominantly Roman Catholic nations. Pope Gregory I declared the cockerel, or rooster, to be an emblem of Christianity and of St. The Ancient Romans employed weather vanes, as well.

The Gallo di Ramperto, held in the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia, Italy, it the oldest extant weather vane in the shape of a rooster.

Easy weather vane