Rock Knock Off Holiday Edition

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Are you loving all the holiday decor in the stores and in the home catalogs filling up the mailbox lately??

I’m loving it, but the prices not so much.

A group of blogging friends has come together to help you out.  Great inspiring knock-offs for the change in your sofa!

Rock Knock Off Holiday Edition is here!

Click on the pictures at the bottom to visit all the holiday Rock your Knock Off creative ideas.

I started making spindle angels years ago.  I was inspired by Ballard Design’s Bunny Williams Holiday Angels when I opened their catalog to make one more.  Theirs are $19 for the small one and $29 for the large one.

Mine are free, made with spindle and things on hand.

Older spindle angels

This picture is a spindle angel I made years ago.  During the late 90’s and early 2000, I made home decor items.  I sold them to shops along the central coast of California.  During the holidays I made several spindle angels.  Each one was different.  This angel was large and the shop used her as a window display.

This is the only one I kept.

Notice my photography skills have improved!!

Making another angel

After seeing the angels in Ballard Designs I was inspired to make another spindle angel.  I realize my knock-off is not exactly the same as in their catalog, but these angels are true to my style….and free!

I dug through my pile of spindles and found this one along with a piece of old wood from a broken chair.

Photo credit

It’s the piece that attached the back to the seat in the photo above.  I saw angel wings!  My friend had several of these chairs that were damaged.  So she gave them to me and we had a blast taking them apart for the spindles.

Glad I kept the angel wing pieces!

Assembling the angel

Anyway, now back to making an angel.  I cut the base of the spindle off.   I put the base back into the pile.  It will show up on another project!

Then I drilled a hole into her wings and attached with a screw.  A dab of wood glue on the screw will hold her wings perfectly.

For wings in the past, I’ve used pieces of wood to jigsaw wings like in the large angel above.  The angel I kept has a wood onlay, or scroll for wings.  I’ve also used additional small spindles and a piece of broken plate for wings.  Wish I would have taken pictures.

Maybe not, they would look like the one above. :/

The halo

Now for the halo.  I have several knobs like this from an old dresser.  The knob is in two pieces.  The disk is perfect for a halo.

Halos in the past were rusty wire like the small one I kept, beading like the large one above.  I also used round wood onlays.

I painted the red spindle with two coats of creamy white chalky paint.  The wings and halo were dry brushed with the same white paint.

I like my Ballard Designs inspired spindle angels.  But which came first??

You might notice the red spindle from my spindle tree last year.  Yep, I took it down after the holidays last year, just like the regular tree.  I’m making a smaller version of the spindle tree for this year.  Stay tuned…

I love spindles!  Here’s proof, 10 things to do with a broken spindle.

I working on 10 more things to do with a broken spindle.

 I find spindles at yard sales, thrift shops, and curbside.  Usually from broken furniture…and many times the broken furniture is free!