Tag: recycled wire

Rustic Sunflower Fall Wreath DIY and A Bit More

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Oh, how I love spending long, fun filled Fall days full of junk jaunts and tag sales with my daughters and sisters.  With all the virus concerns, we’ve not been out to any all summer, but are hoping to get masked up and maybe squeeze one in next month.  While poking around in my overloaded garage, sorting and tossing, I’m discovering a lot of treasures from our past outings, recalling the plans for them, and remembering some of the crazy times we had. 

One such past find was a pair of metal sunflower candleholders; perfect for Fall decor.  It really makes my day when I find a treasure like this to bring home, repurpose, and play with. When I found them, I knew right away I’d be filling the center with something.

The small round legs popped off easily with pliers.  The leaves were removed with bolt cutters, and saved. To build up height in the centers, a small circle of ½” plywood was glued into each one.  I wanted some shine to show through the translucent glass nuggets I would be using, so I cut circles from a discarded piece of antiqued mirror to glue over the plywood. Small circles of thin metal could also be used in place of the mirror. Different sizes of amber, brown, and clear glass nuggets were glued to the mirror, leaving a small space around each one. After letting the glue dry 24 hours, the nuggets were grouted with sanded grout.  I mixed a small amount of brown paint with my black grout to get the color I wanted.  Let grout dry overnight before sealing.

Searching through my stashes, I found an awesome piece of rusted steel wire and some beautiful green and gold blown glass grape bunches.  The wire,  I pulled from a salvage pile last year, and the grapes were found in an antique mall in Texas several years ago. They had broken leaves, and I paid a bit more than I would usually do, but they were so darned pretty.  And now, I’m really glad I did.

Not being one for flowery, frilly things, the wire piece worked perfectly for my taste; I could use the twisted wire knot to take the place of a bow.  

With 22ga, thin black wire, the flower was wired on first, then the leaves, and grapes.  I added some rusty springs to give it just a little bit more. 

I love the versatility of projects like this.  These sunflowers can be attached to just about anything, and used indoors, or out.  I did a little playing around with some other ideas too, and thought I’d share them just for fun.  You’ll have to let me know what you think ..

Keep it simple.  Paint a couple metal leaves to add around a flower; attach it to a chalkboard, or a welcome sign.

 A wire wreath is big enough for the pair. No ribbon for a wreath bow?  Cut strips of fiberglass window screening and loop one.  There’s easy bow instructions on YouTube.

How about a mailbox cover?  A metal nail strip was stitched to wire hardware cloth and shaped in an arch.  Hold it in place underneath with mini bungee cords.  

For an open porch, I think a small arrangement with a sunflower and raffia would look great too, tied around the neck of a milk can filled with tall florals, or ornamental grasses; but I didn’t have time, a porch, or florals to get that put together. 🙂

A wide variety of small, inexpensive metal and glass pieces can usually be found at garage sales, and tag sales, so keep an eye out if you like repurposing and working with salvaged materials.  It’s good to get in the practice of looking at a piece and taking it apart in your mind to see how it’s parts can be used in other ways before carting it home.

Please feel free to comment, or share my post if you like. Take Care and Stay Healthy. 

A Little Wire Easter Basket

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While out snooping around sales last summer, I paid a whole quarter for an old, wire downspout guard. It was a little bent, but the wire was good and not brittle from rust. I’m always attracted to, and compelled to buy wire objects and it looked like something I thought I needed.

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I caught a glimpse of the dusty and forgotten object on a shelf in my workroom last week. With Easter right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to make a little basket for my “gathering” buddy, Jean. She’d get a kick out of it.

I cut the wires down about 1 1/2″, except for two (opposite each other) which I left for handle arms.

The cut wires were coiled down to form a basket rim. The long wires were bent, about 1/4″ down, to form L shapes and then wired securely in place.

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A short piece of weathered, 1/4″ wooden dowel was cut for a handle. Drill a small hole in the center of each end of the dowel piece, at least 1/4″deep. Age the fresh cut wood ends with thinned, gray paint, and sanding. Hook dowel between the handle arms.

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You could simply leave the basket it’s original color here. I would suggest touching up any plier scratches and marks with a black patina.

I chose to lightly dry brush my basket with white, craft paint, then gave it a sanding.

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I had a gorgeous vintage twist on earring and I couldn’t resist adding some bling to cover the knot of the tea stained strip of vintage fabric tied under the coiled rim.

I waxed, then speckled, a small dried egg gourd to nestle in the shredded, brown paper beside a small, metal, bunny candy mold.

Done!  I can’t believe how easy this project came together .. a quick afternoon upcycle if you have all your supplies handy.

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Happy Easter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In The Spirit of Christmas!

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A friend and I were visiting the other day and trying to decide exactly what you would call our obsession with saving scraps and bits.  The term “junk collector” isn’t really fitting and sounds so cold.  We are more like “gatherers”.  We like to gather and save all kinds of intriguing things, big and small, until we discover or create a way to use them.  With a husband in the scrap business, I may get to do more gathering than most, but I really enjoy the challenge of creating with my finds.

After pinning another great Pinterest post on crafting with Epsom Salt, I figured it was time to give it a try.  But, what was I going to put it on?

During short breaks from glass work the last couple of weeks, I’ve been having fun rusting wire, bells, and a few other tidbits.  Looking through them. I found a couple large notebook spirals that rusted nicely, and thought they would look good as flocked wreath ornaments.

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I started with a large rusted spiral approximately 12″ long.  Shape in a circle and clip ends together to determine the diameter of the wire circle you will need for an inner circle, to prevent sagging.  Pre-shape a length of rusty wire into the circle size needed, with a little extra on the ends.  Scrunch the spiral in your hand and thread wire through.

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Trim off excess wire and form small hooks on wire ends.  Cross hooks over and connect the spiral together to form the inner circle.  Pinch hooks tight.  Wrap the loose coil ends of the spiral to the coil opposite of it (right to left, left to right) to complete the outside edge of the circle.

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Not wanting fumes to choke everyone out of the house, I moved to the garage for spraying and coating my wreaths. Using long tweezers to hold the wreaths worked like a charm, and they cleaned up easily with a wipe of  mineral spirits.  Spraying over the garbage bin kept sticky overspray residue at bay.  Adhesive sprays may differ; please follow manufacturers directions.

After spraying, coat wreath well in a shallow container of Epsom Salt.  I waited about 10 minutes, then sprayed the wreath again, before sprinkling it with crystal clear glitter.

You can stop here if you like the look.  Wanting a heavier, fuller appearance, I waited about 20 minutes and repeated the coating step. Then moved the wreaths inside to dry thoroughly.

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Flatten a small piece of textured scrap aluminum for the holly.  Trace first leaf, then flip the pattern before tracing the second leaf.  Cut them out with tin snips or all purpose scissors.  Be Careful Please … edges may be sharp!

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Re-flatten the leaves and punch a small hole for a wire.  File the edges, sand with steel wool, and paint them with a Christmas green craft paint.

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Sandpaper the leaves to distress the green paint.  Spray lightly with adhesive and coat them lightly with glitter.  If the glitter gets too heavy, brush it off with a soft bristled brush.  Let dry well before using your fingers to curve the tips of the leaves, to add dimension.

Many small gauge wires will work for the leaves and bells.  I used Christmas hook wires because they were on my workbench and easily accessible.

Form a small circle on the end of a straightened, long green plastic coated Christmas hook.  Bend it to the side.

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Over lap the ends of the holly, lining up the holes, and clip them together.  Insert the shaped wire.  Squeeze a little E6000 in the gap, where they meet, on the backside.  Let dry.

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Spray two 3/4″ rusted round bells with a clear sealer.  Wire them tightly together.  Hold leaves and position the bells as you view them from the front.  Hold in place and hot glue them enough to hold them in place on the backside of the leaves.  Lay them down to secure with more glue.  If there is a lot of adhesive and glitter on the leaves, you may need to lightly sand the area before gluing.

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Push the long leaf wire through the coils of your wreath, from the front, covering the spiral connection.  Keep leaves firmly positioned while wrapping the long wire around the inner circle wire and coils.  Use small pliers to help thread it through the coils and keep it pulled tight.

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Do any additional shaping on your leaves.  As a finishing touch, give the crown of the bells a quick spritz of adhesive and a little sprinkle of glitter.

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Hope this little project has inspired some Christmas crafting.  If you’re willing to share, I’d love to hear how you are using Epsom Salt in your creations.

For now, I guess it’s back to a little glass work for me … there’s candy canes to be make!  glassicartistry.etsy.com

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