Dress Up a Thrift Store Find With DIY Wire Flowers
7 Materials
$8
1 Hour
Easy
We all love looking through thrift stores! Sometimes we find things we like but have no idea how to upcycle or repurpose them. I found a wire basket at the Goodwill that I liked - it was cheap - four dollars and in good shape! I actually loved its' patina finish, too! But it needed something to spruce it up and I didn't want to paint it and ruin the finish. Then it dawned on me to dress up the basket with handmade wire flowers with the same type of finish. And you won't believe how easy wire flowers are to make!
Begin by extending multi-purpose 16 gauge wire at least a foot or more. Do not cut the wire. Then wrap the wire around a round object (I used a round wooden handle), leaving a wire tail and using the handle, turn it a couple of times around, twisting to form the first petal.
Remove the petal from the handle and extend the longer wire, straight out, sideways, For the next petal, wrap the wire around the handle as close to the first petal and twist and turn the handle and wire around twice to form the second petal.
Continue making petals, for a total of five, extending the wire and wrapping wire around handle, twisting and turning to form petals, as before. Make sure you get as close to the previous petal wire when wrapping for the next.
Once you've made five petals, push and shape the petals together forming the flower. Cut off the excess wire leaving a tail as least six inches long. Using needle nose pliers, begin rolling or coiling the wire into circles toward the center of the flower.
Continue coiling wire towards center using the needle-nose pliers to center the coiled wire between all of the petals.
Apply Dap RapidFuse All Purpose Glue to the coiled center and insert a decorative push pin. Allow to dry. And then make several more!
The original wire tails on back are used to hook the flowers onto the basket. But you can permanently attach them to the basket using the Dap glue.
I love how decorative the basket looks now! It's so versatile! Giving extra storage space with a decorative flair when used in any room. You can use it to hold fruits and vegetables in the kitchen or toilet paper or towels in the powder room. You can also use it for magazines, or a catch all in the foyer.
Now with handmade wire flowers attached, the wire basket is as attractive as it is functional! What a great thrift store find!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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4 of 9 comments
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Beautiful Gail - it really snazzes it up!
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That is soooo cute! ❤it!
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Thank you, Dawn!
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