Easy Wire Projects

These decorative candleholders are quick and easy to make with wire, a jar and beads. Figure A Figure B Figure C Figure D A decorative wire hanger adds new interest to this framed picture. Make your own wire picture holders. They're especially popular with teenagers or for giving as gifts.  REAL VIDEO Click for video to learn how to make a hanging candle lantern from a baby food jar and wire.  REAL VIDEO Wire picture stands can cost more than $20 retail. You can make one for under $1! Click here to find out how.

Designing and creating decorative items for your home is fun, easy and inexpensive. Guest Lori Roarke shows how simple it is to make a picture holder, a picture stand and a hanging candle lantern. You could spend $10 to $35 at a specialty store, but why? With wire and a few simple tools you can make these accessories for pennies! Just follow these simple instructions:

Hanging Candle Lantern

Materials:

baby food jar
beads
19-gauge wire
wire cutters
needle-nose pliers
round-nose pliers

Steps:

1. Cut four pieces of 19-gauge wire approximately three feet long.
2. Wrap one piece around the top of the jar's lip so it ends up in the center of the wire. Make sure the ends are fairly even and twist it three to four times like a twist-tie, leaving one end straight up and the other straight down (figure A ).Repeat with the three remaining pieces so that wires are on each side.
3. Once all four wires are on the jar, use your fingers to make a loop in each of the four top wires about two or three inches from the jar's top (figure B).
4. Gather the four wires above the jar and connect them with a small piece of wire (figure C).
5. Using needle-nose pliers, twist one top of the four gathered wires into an eyehook and curl those remaining into decorative loops as shown (figure D).
6. In the same manner used in step 3, create two loops in two opposing wires on the bottom of the jar.
7. Snip the remaining two straight wires to about eight inches, pull them together under the jar and twist together three or four times. Cut one end off and curl the other with pliers.
8. Curl the remaining two looped ends from step 6.
9. Make a chain to hang the lantern by straightening pieces of wire to about four to six inches. Create eyehooks on each end and link together until desired length is achieved.
10. Decorate piece with beads. Bend an eyehook in one end of a small piece of wire, slip it through a bead and bend the leftover wire into a 45-degree angle.
11. Loop beads onto all twisted wires for a finishing touch.

Wire Picture Hanger

Materials:

16-gauge rebar tie wire
wire cutters
needle-nose pliers
round-nose pliers

Steps:

1. Cut a piece of wire 24 inches long and cross the ends to make a centered loop. Continue making as many decorative loops as desired on either end.
2. Curl the loose ends into spirals.
3. Expand the outside spirals and spread them out on the inside lip of a picture frame. Push and tighten into place.

Picture Stand

Materials:

16-gauge rebar tie wire
wire cutters
needle-nose pliers
round-nose pliers
beads

Steps:

1. Cut a 30-inch piece of wire and cross the ends to make three central loops.
2. Twist ends like a twist-tie to make a decorative length of wire below loops.
3. Spread the two straight ends of wire apart and hold the looped end so it's on the bottom.
4. Bend the wire where the loop end and the twists begin to form a base (work with it until it stands on its own).
5. Curl loose ends into desired shapes, add beads and place photos into one of the spirals.

Resources
salvage items - Gilman
Gilman Salvage
808 Gilman St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone: 510-524-5500
Guests
Jane Hartman
Designer / Owner, LoriJane
2781 21st St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
E-mail: lorijane@lorijane.com
Website: www.lorijane.com

Lori Roarke
Designer / Owner, LoriJane
118 B S. Acacia Ave.
Solana Beach, CA 92075
E-mail: lorijane@lorijane.com
Website: www.lorijane.com
Also in this Episode

Treasure Makers : Episode TRM-105
•	Easy Wire Projects