The Sola plant, scientifically known as Aeschynomene Aspera, produces some of the best natural bird toy material. Learn about this plant and the awesome hand-crafted process it takes to become bird toys.
This beautiful, individually hand-made Sola Rose is 100% sola!
The material that’s harvested from sola is actually a type of wood which is one of the lightest in the world. Sola grows in big shrubs which can reach a height of (10) feet or (3) meters tall! Sola grows very quickly and is natural to its areas making this wood ideal as a sustainable material to harvest. This plant grows in the marshy area and is located in many South East & South Asian countries.
A big bundle of freshly harvested sola branches.
As natural sola grows in predominantly marshy areas, first, it has to be gathered. Harvesters venture out and cut down pieces of the stems that can be carried, bundle them together and bring them back for processing. All these stems are carefully and individually washed to removed all dirt and particles. The stems next are sorted based on their shape and size as all can be used for certain toys. For toys that require the bark to be removed this is sliced off each individual sola log by hand.
Next the sola is cut into the shapes and sizes needed for whichever toy its being creating into. After this, if required, the sola parts are dipped into eco-friendly water soluble dyes. Sola is a superb material for absorbing color as water soluble dyes uniformly stain the material. All the sola parts are given a final sun dry to make sure all the moisture has been removed and any colors are completely dry. This entire process is managed by our partner has a globally recognized ISO 9001:2015 certification which maintains very high quality controls and production practices throughout the entire manufacturing journey.
Each sola foot toy we offer has followed these strict production process and all have been made by hand. Perhaps one of the most impressive is the Sola Shred Rose.
5175 Sola Shred Roses
$4.99
$8.99
The Sola Shred Roses from M&M Bird Toys are a delightful and safe option for pet birds who love to chew, shred, and play with lightweight toys. These all-natural, chewable foot toys are crafted from the pithy stems of the… read more
First the sola must be thinly sliced and setup into stacks which are bound together. These are rounded to achieve the desired petal shape. Lots of stacks of sola are needed as each flower has many pedals on it. The stacks must be carefully adjusted as any cut will change the shape of the final flower.
The flowers made in these videos are slightly different than the Shred Roses as they have a large center bud but they all follow the same process. A center sola bud is wrapped with string as a starting point for the flower which is made from a bundle of sola. Except for the string, every part of these natural bird foot toys are chewable and shreddable.
From here individual flower petal pieces are selected, held against the flower and attached by wrapping the string around its end. This is a meticulous process as the flower petal selected, the placement on the flower and how far along the flower is all affect the final appearance. Only with mastery can these flowers be intentionally consistent and beautiful. This continues around and around until the final flower is complete.
As these are made by hand each rose will be slightly different from one another, making for completely unique foot toys every time pet birds play with them. These sola flowers are not only beautiful, natural and perfect for pets, they also have no shelf life and be stored indefinitely until they are ready to be played with.