8 May 2013

Chicken wire basket tutorial

I've been wanting to make a chicken wire basket since we bought chicken wire for the original chicken run and had some left over. While shopping at a charity shop the other day I spotted this monstrosity and knew it would be the perfect base:

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I don't even know what it was supposed to be. Maybe it held pot-pourri at one point? Who knows.

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I started pulling it apart. The padded rim was glued onto the painted wire frame.

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When it was all removed there were fibres and glue left behind.

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I also wanted to rid the frame of the cream paint. I decided to stick the frame into a hot oven, thinking of how heat guns are sometimes used to strip paint.

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I didn't leave it in too long as the fumes were awful. Unfortunately, the paint wasn't affected at all but the glue melted off.

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Grant came up with the idea of putting it into the fireplace when we had the fire going. That did the trick!

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As you can see, all of the paint charred off.

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I sanded the metal with some sandpaper and rinsed the frame. Then it was ready for the next step.

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The chicken wire we have is the large hole variety. I would have preferred smaller holes but I wanted to use what we had rather than buy a whole new roll.

I laid the frame onto a piece of chicken wire ...

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I then used wire cutters to trim the wire slightly larger than the base of the frame.

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I placed the cut piece inside the frame as I wanted the cross pieces underneath to help provide support to the contents of the basket.

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Then I used my jewellery pliers to twist the chicken wire onto the frame, making sure to smooth the sharp edges well.

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Here is the finished base.

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I repeated the procedure with each panel of the sides.

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Want to see the finished basket? Here you go! It can be used to store apples ...

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... or eggs ...

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... or onions. I have it sitting on the counter full of onions right now.

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I think it would also be cute on a bathroom counter with rolled washcloths in, or draped with a napkin and filled with fresh bread rolls. Whatever it's used for, I like the rustic almost vintage look and the fact that it's one-of-a-kind :) What would you fill it with?





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