It’s Friday, so that means I have an easy project for those who like to use minimal tools. I saw a Christmas Card holder made from a spindle on Home & Family, one of my favorite daytime shows. I like to be inspired by others’ projects, but usually put my own spin on things.
So, I set out to make my own Spindle Christmas Card Holder.
Find a spindle-mine was a reclaimed porch spindle
These porch spindles have been hanging out in the backyard barn for years. I remember exactly where I curbed them. Yep, I picked up these spindles off the side of the road.
Upon inspecting the choices I decided to go with the one on the right. I liked it’s shape better.
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What you need to make a twisted wire Christmas Card holder
- Spindle
- wire (I used 16 gauge black tie wire)
- Clamp
- Wire Cutters
- Tape measure (I like this Self Centering Tape Measure)
- Drill
- Drill Bit
- Needle Nose Pliers
- Painter’s Tape
- Paint
Shorter sections of wire will prevent an issue with tangling.
Using a scrap piece of wood, I clamped three pieces of wire with an Irwin Quick Clamp. It was the best option to quickly clamp the many sections I ended up making.
How to twist wire with a drill
This video is from when I twisted wire to make my repurposed loaf pan planter. If you want to see how much a twisted wire can change the look of a single wire check out Rustic Pallet Caddy.
How to curl wire in a spiral
To curl the wire with the spiral I wrapped the twisted wire around a large round spindle. After I got a good shape, needle nose pliers were used to curl it into a shape to hold cards or photos. I used s similar technique when I made DIY photo Holders.
The size of your drill bit will be dependent on the thickness of the wire you use. Because I used 3 pieces of the 16 gauge wire I used a 1/8” drill bit. Doing so, gave the wires a snug fit.
Snipping of the end pieces is difficult, but it gave me a clean end to insert into the drilled hole.
My hands were pretty black from twisting and shaping the wire, so I don’t have any in-progress shots. My original lengths of twisted wire pieces were about 60”. This gave me plenty of room for changing up the sizes of the branches. After inserting the wire into a hole, I curled the ends as shown above. I liked the look of “drooping” branches.
To keep paint off the wires, I used painter’s tape. I gave the spindle a quick coat of black paint.
A cheap chip brush was perfect for the base coat and the red paint I used to do a dry brush effect.
It really is just the color I was going for. I wanted it to look old and rustic!
As usual, I used one of my favorite d ring’s attached to the back of the spindle for hanging.
After taking this photo, I reshaped some of the branches.
This reclaimed spindle Christmas tree card holder can be made in an afternoon. You can use your own artistic license to change it up however you want. The wire will need to be at least two ply in order to be strong enough to hold the cards. In addition, the twisted wire just looks a lot better than a single wire.
gail
What a cute idea Gail! Thank you for a great project.
really cute! thanks for your instructions.
LUV it!
Ooo… another great use for twisted wire. I love anything Christmas though. A few years ago I made something similar. I used a dowel, drilled holes down it in a spiral and put a foot on it. I also clear coated the whole thing because the wires kept getting everything black. I wired on some vintagemercury glass garland and gave it to my daughter to use in a white elephant swap. It was stolen by almost everyone after it was unwrapped.