2017 - Volume #41, Issue #3, Page #19
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Metal Roses Have Barbed Wire Stems
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The South Dakota rancher was inspired by a display in a western décor booth at a stock show that used barbed wire for the stems of metal roses. Barber decided to make his own roses for a special friend on Valentine’s Day. Friends saw them and asked him to make roses for them to give as gifts. Three years later, Barber has made more than 2,000 roses. While the barbed wire stems make them interesting, Barber’s color options are what sets his metal roses apart.
He credits the quality color to his education and experience in collision repair and body shop work. His father had a repair shop on the farm and taught Barber how to MIG weld when he was young. Barber later took a semester of welding as part of an auto body repair program. Circumstances brought him back to help with the family’s cow/calf ranch several years ago. The roses provide a way to combine his painting, welding and other skills with the ranch’s barbed wire.
While his first roses were completely handmade with sheet metal and a tin snips, Barber now has a local business laser-cut his four-part petals out of 22-ga. metal sheets. Using pliers, he bends and curls four of them with needle nose pliers to create each rose, and pop-rivets them together through a hole in the center of the base. He welds the barbed wire stem to the steel rivet.
Finished roses are sandblasted, primed, then painted and coated with two coats of clear acrylic. Barber uses automotive primer and other quality paints.
“I am very particular on the finishing,” Barber says. “The vast array of colors is what catches people’s eyes.”
While red is popular, so is purple and turquoise. John Deere collectors appreciate the green and yellow roses. Barber offers custom colors for people who want to match wedding and anniversary colors (for an extra fee). Some roses have even been buried with loved ones.
For customers who like “antique” roses, Barber rusts them slightly with a bleach/vinegar/water solution. Prices start at $30/each for unpainted steel roses. Painted roses sell for $35 each. He reduces the price by $5/rose for orders of five or more.
For extra special roses that are hydro-dipped or powder-coated, the cost is $45/each. Barber contracts out that work.
As with most artists, he is exploring new ideas to add to his product line. His roses under glass (with a Beauty and the Beast theme) are proving to be popular, and he welds up vases to hold the roses.
Barber notes that the busy time for orders usually comes during slower times on the ranch – before Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, etc. During calving, and haying and harvest seasons, it takes longer to fill orders.
“It’s just me doing it – taking orders on the phone or through my website and Facebook,” he says. “It’s been a great journey and a lot of fun. I would have never thought something so small could have turned out to be such a big thing.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Barber Designs, Shawn Barber, 17220 Tisdale Rd., Owanka, S. Dak. 57767 (ph 605 515-3632; www.barber-designs.com).
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