Rake Head Wreath: Rake-Elle
I kept coming across rake head wreaths and separate posts for upcycled cheese grater owls. I thought it would be fun to combine the two. Here's a quick how-to:
It all started when I found the rake head in a "free" pile in front of a neighbour's house. My kitchen grater is sturdy and clean. But a local supermarket had a few in their remains bins for $1 each - I bought them all. (the plastic fruit was a freebie from a separate roadside rescue, but didn't make it onto this wreath after all)
My kitchen grater is sturdy and clean. But a local supermarket had a few in their remains bins for $1 each - I bought them all. But they needed some a-rusted development. I use a 50/50 combination of household bleach and vinegar
And I always do it outside and cover my nose and mouth - some posts I've read suggest the potential for toxic gases. I also tossed in a couple of canning jar metal lid rings (for big googly owl eyes) to get them nice and rusty.
I intended to leave it overnight but I got consumed with something unexpected so it was about 36 hours before I pulled them out and rinsed them thoroughly to halt the corrosion. Because the combination is so effective, use a heavy plastic or metal container that will resist corrosion.
Meanwhile, I cut the bottoms off two soft drink cans and bent the cut edge inward all the way around. These were the perfect size to fit inside the canning jar rings.
I used gorilla glue to affix the pieces. The rings around the base of the can add to the owl eyes. The metal clip I used for the nose was in my collection of bits-and-pieces.
I used cheap tinny teaspoons for ears. I used floral wire to one to each side. Initially I regretted having not thought about that early enough to rust them, but at the end of the day I liked the contrast of the non-rusted ears and eyes.
I added a couple of gold buttons for pupils of the eyes - and you can see I started playing with the finishings and opted for some stray strands of Chinese lantern instead of the bulky plastic fruit. I used florist wire to attach the metal owl to the rake.
I used pinecones and floral moss to fill out the bottom. And for fun contrast, I added a string of craft pearls around the base.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 22 comments
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so cute love it
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I am going to do this project!! You can find things lying around your home or things you don't know what to do with. Actually, its a cheap project and you can save money by "doing it yourself!"
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