Garden Art How To
In our Flea Market style of gardening, we’re continuing the effort to be environmentally conscious and recycle, coming up with this fun idea to re-use wine barrel rings in a unique way. Lots of us use whiskey or wine barrels in which to garden. But what happens when the wood slats start to loosen and the rings end up on the ground? You make garden art! Yes, that’s how a junk gardener thinks.
Barb Brashier’s barrel hoop sphere is filled with Million Bells and contrasts nicely with bright teal
Jeanne’s keeps this idea from a cool article on Garden Web, clipped to her ‘futures’ file. Barrel rounds hanging high in a tree.
Dot Baker tells us, “Thank you for the idea! Finally a use for all the rings I have saved. We drilled holes through both sides and used nuts and bolts and then flared them out evenly. It’s really easy to put them together.”
Cheryl Harrison shows one way how to wire the rounds together
How to:
- To start, you’ll need three to seven discarded whiskey barrel rings
- You will need: a drill, several drill bits, a clamp, nuts, washers and bolts or screws
- Pound out any existing nails and bang out any dents
- Fit the rings together to find just the right place where they form the best shape
- Clamp the rings together and drill a pilot hole for the bolt
- Use larger and larger drills to get the final size
- Insert one screw in the hole, add a washer, then a lock-washer and finally the nut.
- Loosely tighten the bolt so you can adjust the rings, while repeating on the bottom side
You’re done! Find a perfect spot in the garden and you have a rustic piece of garden art.
Lark Kulikowski says, I love to recycle and create art. This sphere is made from barrel strappings and a blue glass ball. The Japanese Maple is a bonus.
Myra Glandon says, I made this last weekend out of only four metal barrel rings
Jeanne Sammons says, “This is why I love Flea market gardening … see what fun you can have …
Jeanne tells us, “Here’s that old whiskey barrel ‘bands’ made into a sphere and my lil’ visitor this weekend enjoyed giving it a shove down the pine needle paths! I think there’s six or seven here …and Larry did this project in his shop for me, drilling holes and bolting the bands together.
Jeanne Sammons’s barrel rings in the snow
We love the rusty patina of these spheres and weather can’t hurt them at all.
A Valentine for your Garden
Patty Hicks’s barrel hoop heart hung on her fence.
From Ben to Patty…. and a surprise while she was out! Patty came home to find an adorable barrel ring heart made to display in her garden. She says, “This will eventually be hung on the flat side of one of our trellises out back. I saw a picture of them hung like that and they looked so cute.”
Marie’s barrel hoop heart hung from a tree
Marie Niemann also made a heart from her barrel rings without cutting. She simply bent the hoop at the bottom and top to form the heart, to which she added a rusty key. The key to her heart? You’ll have to ask her hubby!
With Marie’s signature key
Its pretty amazing what happens here at Flea Market Gardening and funny, too, how ideas spread from one to another! Some got the idea right here and had loads of fun making their own.
Tip:
If you have whiskey barrels and want to prevent the metal bands from falling off, simply nail a few spaced out roofing nails or drill a few screws into the under side of each band to form a lip to hold them.
Other projects to do with barrel rings:
Use as a mold for a concrete stepping stone
Bolt a sphere to a good sized tree branch, dig a hole to bury the end and stand it in the garden
Hang from a tree with a paper Japanese lantern or lantern sitting inside
Dot Brennan Baker’s version of ‘rust & roses!’ She assembled this ‘orb’ from old whiskey barrel rings. Cool, uh!
