Fences With Friends

Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy through old chicken wire

farm fences and friends having fun.

Join Good Fences

Eclectic

is the best word ever.  I now have a style!  I like the odd things and now instead of someone saying, "Her style is a little crazy.  Bless her heart",  I can be eclectic and all is forgiven.

Here is a barbed wire wreath with a tree knot.

A barbed wire "nest" with rusty pliers "birds"

My bone tree

with bird feeder.

Perfect for the upcoming holiday.

A experimental solution

for a trash bag in your car.

The grocery bags fit perfectly inside, 

and are fastened on each side over buttons.

The white part is elastic and the entire bag is washable.

.

I will fine tune my idea with color coordination

and different shapes..

Not bad for the first prototype.

This may be adjusted for a glove box trash container.

Scary?

Happy Halloween!

Blood Sweat and Tears

In August I began a love affair with old barbed wire.  I've continued playing with wire.  There are several different kinds here.  It's amazing when you think about it.  These patents, these entrepreneurs, were instrumental in changing a way of life.

This was one of the ways (I'm not sure of the date) barbed wire was wound for sale.  You bought it by the roll but I now sell it by the wreath.

I removed the old wire...I use every piece.  A friend of mine shared an idea.  I decided to try to run with it so this became my base.

As with most of my "creations" messy hands are happy hands.

You have to be careful.  Not only are the barbs super sharp, tearing my skin, but when bending and wrapping things can be caught, in this case my finger.  Ouch! 

Can you see it?

It's going to be a bird's nest complete with babies.

A little more bird like weaving and I will call it complete.

Barbed Wire and History

During our clearing and cleaning we found broken rusted barbed wire.

To me, that's a gold mine.

We spent a day creating instead of destroying.

I love the peace symbol and tried to make one here. The center of the symbol is made from T.V. Allis "Buck thorn" barbed wire patented in July 1881 in Texas.  It came in narrow, medium and wide.  I will be removing the washer I used to TRY and cover the different colored wire and removing the wire and replacing it with an old piece.  I want mine all rusty.

Five varieties of barbed wire can be seen here. "Beginning in 1868, a series of patents was issued to several inventors for strong, mass-produced fencing made from interlocking strands of wire. These wires were outfitted with sharp barbs that kept even the toughest cattle from muscling through it. The varieties of barbed wire seen here include: the Kelly "Diamond Point" right twist (1868), Burnell four-point (1877), and Glidden two-point, (1874), H. B. Scutt "Y" plate (1878) and T. V. Allis "Buckthorn" (1881). Barbed wire ended the open range and with it the cattle drives and the range lifestyle that created the Texas cowboy legend."

The main part of these wreaths is the barbed wire patented by Joseph Glidden  in July of 1874 in Illinois.  "Cheaper than dirt and stronger than steel" was the line used to sell all models of barbed wire.  Kansas Barbed Wire Museum in La Crosse Kansas has 2100 unique samples of barbed wire. 

I made some wire art too.

Can you see the bull and the heart?

If not, I have to hang up my wire sculpture hat.

Dr Peppers were drunk.

Skin was poked.

Poked skin bled but all in all, it was a perfect day to recycle some old wire.

and a good night to do some research.

It Ain't Junk

I decided this would be my cool day project after push mowing through the morning. Dad fenced the yard to keep the livestock out.  After many years sections are gone but I like to keep pieces of what was.  

I began to tear it down before my before pictures.  I had to tackle all the honeysuckle and Virginia creeper while I was working on the fence.

Dad and Mom built three rails of split posts.  There were two large gates in other spots and one walk in swinging gate here.

I decided to try and reinforce and straighten the posts while doing only two rails since it is only "decorative" now.

 After a lot of sweating

hammering and bleeding

I'm 

calling

it finished.

It Takes All Kinds of Fences...

for all kinds of jobs.  Everyone's sharing their fences with TexWisGirl.  Join the fun.

My fences aren't pretty but they work.  Sadly we have no horses or cattle now so we don't worry so much about fence.  The land still needs bush hogged and fences need to be checked anyway.

Lil has found a hidden water hole under barbed wire.

Look closely and you will see 

electric fence surrounds this field.

It seems empty without stock.

Good Fences

Check it out, almost a hundred fences there already.

Join the fun.