Rustic Stars

DIY Christmas Ornament

Every year, my friend Stephanie orders sixty ornaments to give as an appreciation gift for her clients.  What a nice idea!

Last year, I made sixty little reindeer, out of a wine cork, some bits of wire, and several beads.  This year, she changed it up and suggested stars, so I started trying some different ideas, either using snowflakes as the basic motif, or stars. 

The snowflakes were very cute, but entailed winding wire around a jig to get the effect.  They are not something I wanted to make sixty of!

So I regressed back to my childhood, to the simple design of a star made from a single line. I used to draw these on the pages of my workbook, while waiting for the lesson to get more interesting. I come by impatience naturally.

The wire is the line, bent into the shape.  That's doable!  I can picture a row of these hung on a string over the mantel, or even attached to a present, or hung on the tree. Or several different sizes strung together as a garland, or sprinkled on a wreath to give a rustic wreath some more bling.

You can use any kind of wire for these, as long as it's bendable and not springy.  It has to hold its shape. 

My favorite kind of wire, for the ease in using it, and its flexibility, is tie wire. Usually this is used to tie rebar, but I've found it to be just the thing for all kinds of rustic crafts.

Buy Black Tie Wire from Amazon.

The color is a bit misleading, as it's caused by the thin oil that's used in the manufacturing of the wire. The oil wears off, and the wire starts to rust, and get an amazing patina over time.

I'm sure Stephanie's clients will be happy to receive this little token of appreciation that's hand made and rustic.

If you made a few of these and the other types of copper wire stars, and some from wire wound around the jig, you would have a fabulous rustic display for your tree or along the mantel.