Copper Wire Wreath With Air Plants
by
Zest it Up
5 Materials
$30
30 Minutes
Easy
With the air finally warming up and all the wildflowers starting to scream in color throughout the hillsides, it is time to usher in spring. I am so ready for the sun and blue skies! I am ready to open up all the windows of my house and let the fresh air and warmth begin to stream in and clean out any stuffiness left over from a very damp winter. This is when I become a total cliche and start "spring" cleaning at every free moment that I find in my days. It's time to clean, to purge and to spruce ;)
Part of my sprucing always includes my front porch. I love cleaning everything up after winter, and making way for new plantings. Along with a little bit of gardening, I can never resist giving my front door a little "makeover" of it's own. Since I have been on a personal quest of everything copper lately, I figured my front door should follow along. Why not add a little bit of copper's razzle and dazzle to my front door? After all, it is the first impression that everyone gets of my home when coming to visit.
Photo Credit Anya McInroy
Supplies
bare copper wire
moss
tillandsia (air plants)
scissors or wire cutter
hot glue gun
old hanger or a wire wreath form
Have you ever begun a craft, thinking that you had all the supplies on hand, only to discover that your memory failed you? This was the case when I went to bust this out. I could have sworn that I had an old wire wreath form just waiting for me to transform it into something new. Apparently, it must have wound up in a purging heap at one time and I had forgotten. No worries! I just grabbed an old wire hanger and bent it into shape. Once I am ready to craft, I rarely am willing to stop simply because of a specific material. It's just a fun challenge trying to think outside of the box, right?
This copper wire is literally the inside of a lamp wiring that you can buy by the spool at your local Home Depot. It is a multitude of tiny copper wires twisted together to make a larger "wire." As a result, it does a great job of catching the sunlight. Of course, as this wreath ages outside, it will develop that amazing mossy green and blue patina that copper magically develops with oxidization.
This is such a simple craft. My only disclaimer is that if I had to do it all over again, I would have wrapped my entire "hanger" with the copper wire before I started to build it out. So, if you give this craft a try, that is my recommendation. I think it will make it even prettier!
To "build it out," I simply tied the copper wire around the hanger circle in about 2" segments. The point is to do things loosely. Once you have things tied down a few times around, you can then continue to "weave" the copper wire through all the loops and bends. If it starts to feel flimsy, go ahead and secure it again to the frame. You basically want to create a crazy tangle of sparkly copper wire. I found it helpful to cut the wire in four foot lengths to make weaving it around easier...so that I didn't have to mess with the spool.
Once I was happy with the tangled wires and the bulk, I then affixed moss straight onto the wires using hot glue. I then used three tilandsias, or air plants, to create a pretty little cluster. I am not big on fake flowers, so these were a happy solution for me. Just don't hot glue them down. I simply secured them within the wires. You want to be able to remove them easily so that you can give them a weekly dunk in H20.
Ahhhh, living, fresh, and green! I love my new spring wreath! It is so different, but so me.
Love the texture!! This is like a door makeover for our sliding barn door!
And the sexy copper!
Ok, another little disclaimer. For the sake of the pic, I hung this pretty little wreath on our interior door at Zest Quarters. I loved it on this old door. Gonna have to make another one for my front door ;)
Cheers to crafting and to spring!
xoxo
Chanda
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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2 of 14 comments
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I love it! It looks elegant!
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So spray the copper with something clear prior to adding the plants?
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