Spindle Angels

Rustic and Simple Porch Decor

Angels are all around us, if you believe in that sort of stuff - if you don't, why not make some of your own out of salvaged spindles?

I'm bad for collecting odd bits of stuff, never knowing when the inspiration will strike to build something.  These spindles and balusters have been collecting dust just waiting for my urge to make some angels out of them. 

These small ones are stair balusters and are turned from what looks like a 2x2 piece of lumber. 

Others that I have are a lot bigger, and are evidently big enough for other purposes, like table legs or bed posts.

I wanted something small, so the top height of these is around five to six inches. 

The wings are from a weird little object found in a thrift store in a packaged bunch of brass things, and I have no idea what it's meant to be.

The swirly bits I thought would need to be cut off with a hacksaw, but I could snap them off by hand. 

They were then attached to the cut piece of spindle.  I used a piece of wire, bent into a hairpin shape, and glued into two holes.

Doesn't that look just like an angel?

The other way to make angels is to add round or other shaped balls to make a head.  These are sold as knobs to go on the ends of curtain rods, turned from a piece of wood. 

Often, they have a broom handle shaped hole in them, but they can be rejigged to put them on the top of the spindle parts.

These show the lovely old paint, worn off on purpose, to give them the patina of age.

Whichever type of angel you make, keep an eye open for this type of spindle or table legs - the more variation in them displayed as a group, the better.

See more tutorials for rustic angels here and primitive ones here.