How to Make a Barbed Wire Wreath

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I’m playing around again with old rusty barbed wire. I am loving finding creative ways to upcycle this wire into some Farmhouse decor for our home. A few days ago, I made a Barbed Wire Wreath – here’s how I did it.

We have quite a bit of old barbed wire hanging around – whenever fencing is replaced, we coil up the old wire and just hang it in the barn. Farmers always have old barbed wire and I am pretty sure they would love for you to take some of it!

So, here’s what I’m working with – a coil of the old wire, some cutting pliers and some tie wrap. You will want to wear leather gloves for this project; barbed wire can hurt!

Make a Barbed Wire Wreath

First coil the barbed wire into a rough circle. If you have to, create a template like we did when we made our Barbed Wire Star.

When you coil it, wrap the end around the circle of wire a couple of times. Leave a few inches to make a handle from later. See the photo above to see what I mean.

This is a pretty rough looking circle! But that’s OK – I can fix that up so it looks a lot better. As long as you can get the wire into a basic circle, you can make this work.

Time to grab those cutting pliers and the tie wire. I’m going to use both of these to tighten up the barbed wire circle. Make sure your pliers have a cutter on them! Cut a piece of tire wire about 3 inches long.

Grab the circle of wire and bend the piece of tie wire around it. You can pick anywhere really around the circle to get started. Once you get the wire bent, use the cutting pliers to cinch the wire right.

When you have the tie wire tightened, you can cut off the excess or just bend it backwards into the barbed wire. Once finished, you really won’t be able to see where you reinforced the wire.

Do this three or four times around the wreath. Wherever you have loops of wire that need to be brought into place, just repeat this step.

Making a Hanger for the Wreath

Remember that tail I left when I wrapped the wire into a circle? Now is the time to bend that wire tail to make a hanger. Just use the cutting pliers to twist the wire.

Fold it back onto itself or wind it into the circle of wire. If you need to straighten the hanger, just use a hammer and give it a good smack to flatten it.

Want to keep the wreath really rustic looking? Add a bow and call it done. Or decorate it according to the season!

Decorating the Barbed Wire Wreath

I wanted to add a few things to the wreath just to dress it up a little bit. Right now, it’s late summer so I’ll decorate it accordingly. Come Christmas I can just change out the decor to fit the season.

I grabbed a couple of grape bunches and a few flowers from our local dollar store. I just want to add a little something so the wreath doesn’t look quite so stark.

And here it is finished…right now it’s hanging in our new mud room. If you want to add a country touch to your home, why not make a Barbed Wire Wreath like this one?

It’s rustic looking and can easily be changed out, depending on the season. It’s an easy DIY afternoon project – take a look at the Barbed Wire Star we made. Add some farmhouse decor to your home!