Camille Young

I’ve discovered an interesting way to create barbed wire without the tetanus!

You’ll need 3 lengths of wire of roughly the same length to coat with clay: one somewhat stiff craft wire (stiff enough to hold its shape), and two nylon-coated stainless steel beading wires. You’ll want to use longer pieces than you think you’ll need because they end up twisted together. Mix some acrylic paint into a ball of lumina polymer clay to create a lovely shade of muddy dark brown.

Roll the clay onto the wire to give it an even, thin coating. If you put a clay blob in the center of the wire and roll it while slowly moving your hands toward the ends, it spreads faster and more evenly. Lumina dries pretty fast when it’s thin, so if it starts drying out too much, just peel it off, knead in a little water, and start again.

Once all three pieces are coated, place them on a piece of newspaper. Using an old toothbrush, flick a little watered-down orange and yellow ocher paint in layers onto each piece to make them look rusty. Let the paint and clay dry completely. They should be pretty dry in 4-5 hours. If you don’t let all the pieces dry throughly, the clay will flatten and come off as you twist the pieces together.

Bend the wire tightly around something skinny 2.5 times or so to make a barb and repeat until the craft wire is used up.

Slip the ends of the two beading wire pieces into a crimping tube to join them. You’ll probably need to strip off a little clay to expose the wire, leaving a little extra for a clasp later if you’d like. String the barbs onto one of the beading wire pieces. Then, twist the two pieces together, while making sure the barbs are evenly spaced.

Finally, use another crimping tube to join the ends together.

As a finishing step, I like to add a little more clay to each end to cover the crimping tubes. When I cut the barbs, it left unfinished ends. The wire inside can poke out a little, so I like to coat each end by smearing it with a tiny piece of lumina clay.

Voilà! This can now be added to another necklace or bracelet, or it can stand alone.