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How to Make a Barbed Wire Star – Farmhouse Decor

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Art made from used barbed wire is becoming a Farmhouse decor favourite and I love the way it looks. Especially using old, rusty barbed wire! And since we have some old rolls laying around, we figured out how to make a barbed wire Star to hang on the exterior wall down at the barn.

You can use these tips to create your own custom metal wall art.

 

How to make your own Barbed Wire Star. An easy DIY project. Add a country flair to your porch. Barbed wire metal art is a great way to add a rustic farmhouse feel to a country home. #barbedwire #metalart #barbedwireart #barbedwiredstar #farmhousedecor #farmhouseporch

 

How to Make a Barbed Wire Star

The tools you will need include:

large board, measuring tape, string, pencil, 2 inch screws, drill, barbed wire, tie wire, cutting pliers

First we had to make a template. Graham is way better at figuring out this kind of stuff, so I was glad he was so willing to help! Here’s how he figured out the measurements.

 

measuring the board to determine placement of barbed wire star

 

Making a template for metal art

Use any board you have laying around for this project. You just need to make sure the board is big enough for the size of star you want.

You can even reuse the board after the farmhouse star is finished. The board will have a few holes in it, though.

Measure the width of the board and divide by two. Make a mark at the center point to work from in the next step. IF you have a large enough protractor for your circle, use that instead of the following.

 

you can use a string and pencil to make a perfect circle for the base of the star

 

How to make a perfect circle using string

Using a drill, place a screw in the wood at the center mark. Tie a piece of string to the screw and make a loop at the other end.

Take a Look at  Make a Barbed Wire Wreath - Farmhouse Decor

Put your pencil in that loop and pull the string tight. Keeping the string tight, draw a circle on the wood.

 

using a home made string compass to make a perfect circle shape

 

Go all the way around until you have made a complete circle. Now you can remove the string line and pencil.

Get your drill ready. Grab some more screws. It’s time to create the star.

 

Using a pencil and screw to form a perfect circle

 

The Barbed Wire Star Pattern

Figure out the equal distance between five screws in the circle. Here’s how you can do that.

 

For example:

If the diameter of your circle is 20 inches, multiply that by 3.14 = 62.8

Now divide the 62.8 by 5 (the number of points on the star) = 12.5

There is 12.5 inches needed between each screw.

Now anyone better than us at math probably has an easier way to figure out the screw placement, but this is how we did it.

Leave the screws sticking out about 1 inch. You will need this height for wrapping the barbed wire.

Wear leather gloves, you will be glad you did.

 

beginning to twist barbed wire to form the base of the star

 

Wrapping the Barbed Wire

Pick any point to start and begin wrapping the barbed wire around the screw. For the first turn, leave a couple inches on the left side, wrap the wire around the screw and continue wrapping in a right handed direction.

You’ll come back to finish off that little piece later on.

 

metal barbed wire being formed into a star shape

 

Now just keep wrapping the rusty barbed wire around the screws in a star shape. If you like, you can finish your star with just the one wrap around.

Take a Look at  Perfect Farmhouse Porch Decor Ideas

 

wrapping barbed wire around screws to form a star shape

 

Or you can do two wraps, which gives you a bit chunkier of a star. You’ll fix up those “loose” looking wires before you’re done.

 

metal barbed wire star DIY

 

We went with three wraps of rusty barbed wire to make the Metal Star even chunkier. To cut and secure the end, first have a piece of wire ready.

Cut the length of excess barbed wire and wrap it a bit around the other barbed wire to hold it in place. Wrap a piece of straight tie wire around all three runs of the barbed wire and cinch it using pliers. Look at the photos, to see what I mean.

 

using pliers to shape barbed wire star

 

Now you can take short pieces of wire and work on any loose wires. We want to have the barb wire be tight and close together. Wrap the wire around the three pieces of wire at the intersections, where the cross wires meet.

 

 

barbed wire wrapped around screws to make a star shape

 

If there are still any loose looking wires, just use another piece of straight wire, line them up and cinch them together. Using pliers will make this part of the project much easier. Use the cutting part of the pliers to cut the excess wire.

Once you are done reinforcing the wires, you’re ready to lift the star from the board. Just use the drill to remove the screws from the board and the star can just be picked up.

 

Hanging the Metal Star

You can use the straight wire to create a small hanger at the top of the star. If you want to keep the look really rustic, you’re done. Hang ‘er up. It will look great against any kind of wood siding!

Take a Look at  Make a Barbed Wire Wreath - Farmhouse Decor

 

Metal barbed wire star hanging on a wood wall

 

I decorated our star just a bit. I used raffia to tie a simple bow, then added a sprig of red berries to give a little pop of color. The Barbed Wire Star is hanging alongside the Virginia Creeper that grows at our barn.

I might add a few seasonal touches but maybe not. I like the rustic simplicity of having the barbed wire be the focal point. Wouldn’t a huge star hanging high up on our house gables look great? That may be another project!

 

More Farmhouse posts

 

How to Fix Up That Ugly Stairwell – You HAVE to see this “before” picture; that stairwell was scary and super ugly!

Building Closets in the Loft – we needed more closet space and so we turn the loft off of our master bedroom into a spacious closet area.

How to Paint Over Ugly 1970’s Wood Paneling – we had to. We just had to.

We brightened up the entire house with this very simple project!

 

Old barbed wire makes cool metal art pieces. Create anything from rusted barb wire. A great idea for selling at farmers markets and craft fairs. #countrydecor #farmhouse #crafts #diyprojects

 

Want to find out which are The 5 Easiest Vegetables to Grow?

Grab the free download available only to subscribers!

 

using pliers to bend barbed wire

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Filed Under: Farmhouse Decor

Comments

  1. Terry Cottingham says

    at

    you made me excited about decorating and make a star out of something, lol not barbed wire although it suited your purpose perfect!

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