Upcycled Whisks into Garden Butterflies

It’s easy to create butterflies from upcycled whisks

These upcycled whisk butterflies will add some fun to your garden and outdoor spaces.

I’ve been a butterfly lover for as long as I can remember. Since I was a little girl really.

I’ve always felt that there was something quite magical about them, and I love watching them as they flutter among the gardens.

Butterfly magic can easily whisk me away to a place of calm and relaxation. Just like this upcycled butterfly project did.

I hope it whisks you away too. Because this is a fun project that anyone can do.

Creating butterflies from wire whisks

To create an upcycled whisk butterfly you’ll need an inexpensive wire whisk. I see these all the time at thrift stores, usually for a dollar or less. Make sure the wire pieces are solidly in place because you’ll be bending them and you want the pieces to stay firmly inserted in the middle section.

To create my butterfly I’m using a 18 gauge wire for the curlicues, and a 22 gauge wire for attaching the curlicues. You’ll see what I mean in the instructions below. And some regular pliers are needed to help with bending. I’m using needle nose, but use whatever works for you.

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Supplies needed for upcycled whisk butterfly

• metal wire whisks
• 18 gauge wire
• 22 gauge wire
• pliers
• spray paint
• craft paint
• spray polyurethane

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The first thing you need to do is remove that round metal piece that holds all the whisk parts in place. If you have wire cutters they might be helpful. I just got my pliers in there and twisted each little section between the whisk parts. I made my way around until all the wire parts were free. This is a little challenging, but needs to be done so you can better spread the whisk parts.

Always wear safety gloves and eyewear when working with metal wires and pieces.

Creating butterfly shape from upcycled whisk

Like so. First I just spread them to get an idea of how that would work.

And then you can create your butterfly wings by manipulating the whisk parts. All regular size whisks have five parts, making them perfect for creating butterflies. Four create the wings, and the fifth part creates the two antennae. I just used my pliers to cut the wire to make the two pieces, and also to bend the ends a bit.

You could certainly leave the butterfly just like this, but I really wanted to dress up those wings a bit.

Creating wire curlicues for butterfly wings

To create curlicues for the butterfly wings I’m using a 18 gauge wire. It’s thick enough to hold its shape, and thin enough to work with easily.

It comes in a roll so I straightened out a long piece. Working with it rolled up is just too difficult.

Using pliers you can get the wire started in a curlicue shape.

Once you get around a couple of times, you can use your fingers instead to keep making your way around. If the pliers work better for you by all means continue to use them.

Keep going until you have a curlicue that fits in one part of each wing.

Then you can get started on a second curlicue at the other end of that same wire.

Until you have something that fits like this.

Attaching wire curlicues to butterfly wings

To attach the curlicues to the whisk wings, cut four pieces of the 22 gauge wire.

Sort of half it around the whisk and the curlicue.

And bend it around and around. I found I could do this with my fingers, until I got to the two ends of the wire. I used the pliers to press those down, and then to tighten the whole thing.

And when you’re done your DIY butterfly should look something like this.

You can leave your butterfly au natural if you like, but I’m a color loving gal so I had to give it some spray paint love.

Painting the upcycled whisk butterflies

I took my butterfly outside and spray painted the entire thing with a lovely sunshiny yellow, two coats front and back. When spray painting, always wear a safety mask.

Then I spray painted the middle section and the antennae. I just used newspaper flyers to cover the wings before spraying with the black.

To give my butterfly a more decorative touch, I used craft paint to add some fun blue dots to the butterfly body. The black was just too plain for me.

I created two friends for my yellow butterfly; this red butterfly with yellow dots on its body.

And this blue butterfly with red dots on its body.

And here are my three whisk butterflies together. I color coordinated the dots on the butterflies so, while they are all different, they kind of relate to each other at the same time.

Before putting them outside I gave them three coats of a spray polyurethane, front and back.

Displaying upcycled whisk butterflies on fence

Here they are hanging on our faded fence on the back deck.

To hang the whisk butterflies I used small screws that have little heads on them. I marked two spots at the bottom of the antennae with a black marker, and then put the screws in place. After I hung up the butterflies I noticed that the screw heads sort of looked like eyes, so I painted them black.

Don’t you just love it when happy accidents like that happen?

The great thing about creating these upcycled whisk butterflies is that you can use any color combos that you like. Mix it up and have fun.

I’m super happy with how these upcycled whisk butterflies turned out, and I think they look great together. They go so well with the sign that John gave me that has some cute little butterflies on it. I’m working on an idea for some small upcycled butterflies to put around the sign.

I’m not sure how long the spray paint finish will hold up, even with the coats of poly. This is sort of an experiment. The sun can really take a toll on painted items. I think the body sections will be ok because they’re solid, but it’s the wings I’m wondering about since they’re just thin wire. If I need to give the wings a coat of paint and poly next season I’m ok with that.

We’ll just have to see how it goes. In the meantime I’m enjoying them. They’re so fun and whimsical.

If you enjoyed this upcycled whisk project you might also enjoy my upcycled whisk tulips, and my upcycled whisk garden flowers.

I hope I’ve inspired you to take another look at the humble wire whisk for your next upcycling project.

It would be greatly appreciated if you would pin this project to your favorite Pinterest board, and also share it with your friends.

Thanks so much for reading and until next time,

keep on keepin’ on!

XOX