DIY Barbed Wire Wreath

If you drive around in the country you’ll see several barbed wire fences.  And if you’ve ever had the same fence, you know there are many reasons to change it out; rust, it stretched out, upgrading, broken from animals, or like us, you could have a tree fall on it.  Well since country people (that’s what we are in this post) are great recycler’s, I thought a DIY Barbed Wire Wreath would be a perfect use for the discards.

Materials Needed:

• Barbed wire
• Pliers
• Zip Ties
• Scrap pieces of fabric (at least 36″ long)

If you don’t have barbed wire sitting around, you can look for some on country roads, ask a Rancher (I bet he has some he’d love to give away), and check areas around the suburbs where they are tearing down the fence to build houses.  They too will probably give you as much as you want.

How to make a Barbed Wire Wreath

We started out with several pieces each about 4 foot in length.  That’s just what we had and it seemed to be manageable.  The Mister couldn’t stand watching me struggle to bend and wrap it so he had the grand idea of using plastic zip ties.  Those things are awesome.  Best part is he did most of the remainder of the work. 😉

After bending and tying the first two strands, we occasionally wrapped another piece around weaving it in and out. With every piece of wire we used a couple of zip ties to keep it secure.  When the barbed wire strands got to be a little much to hold with our hands, we started using pliers to bend the wire around and hold things in place.

Once we got about two rings done, it seemed to go fairly fast.   When I felt the wreath was as thick and as large as I wanted it to be, the Mister used the pliers to clamp and tightly bend the ends around each other.

When it was completely secure and we knew if wouldn’t unravel or spring apart, he cut the zip ties off with scissors.

No matter how rustic or simple, you know I can’t leave an unadorned wreath, right?  🙂  I gathered left over scraps of fabric and ribbon to make a bow.

I cut and ripped 2 inch wide strips of drop cloth and muslin in about 36″ lengths.  Stacked three layers of fabric and ribbon together and simply tied a bow to the piece of barbed wire that was sticking out the most.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

 

Display Options

I love how it turned out and the juxtaposition of the rusty wire with the soft bow.  It’s not that heavy so it can hang anywhere.  Only thing you need to watch out for is that it can scratch wood, walls, glass, etc. if it rubs against it.  I managed to move it around to several places trying to decide where I wanted it to hang.  Do I want it sitting on the shelf I got on my very first trip to First Monday Trade Days in Canton TX?

Or maybe hanging above the stove in the kitchen?  What about inside the blue door that hangs on the two-story wall in our entry?

 

I had a lot of fun moving it from place to place while the Mister was so kind (and patient) taking pictures.  I decided to let it hang in the entry after all but have it on the landing shelf located in the middle of the stairs.

I’ll tweak it a little because it’s not actually sitting 1/3 to the right in the old window frame.  That sort of thing will drive me crazy and quite possibly make me lose sleep.  And I know one day when I’m bored, I’ll change out the decor that sits around it.  But for now, I’m done.

Hope y’all like it and want to make one for yourself.  If you have any questions, let me know – I’ll be happy to help!

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