What can be made from wire?

Many craftsmen often ask themselves the question - what can be made of wire? Such crafts are less critical to errors, since the parts that did not turn out are easy to disassemble and redo. A huge number of different crafts, both decorative and practical, can be made from wire.

Wire cannot be universal. It differs in material, thickness and stiffness. It depends on these criteria how flexible it will be and will keep its shape. For various crafts, you need to select your own wire. According to the material, brass wire, copper, steel (wire rod), aluminum and silver are distinguished, but there are also various alloys. The wire can be either clean or with a decorative or protective coating.

There are enameled, galvanized and galvanized and even plastic coated. Wire coated with silver or gold is considered jewelry and is used for making jewelry. But the floristic one has a paper wrapping. Decorative crafts or jewelry will look advantageous from colored material.

The next criterion is thickness or section. The most commonly used wire is round, but the cross-section can be anything like oval, square, or wedge-shaped. And the last indicator is rigidity. Thin steel wire will have the same stiffness as thick copper wire. Distinguish between soft, semi-rigid and hard.

There are also special types of wire:

• french - in the form of a spiral, more often used in jewelry, while the thinner the spiral, the more expensive the metal from which it is made;
• tiger tail - braided wire, often made of stainless steel with a nylon coating, is used to create an "invisible" base, not suitable for winding;
• with memory effect - made of stainless steel or black steel, tough, perfectly keeps its shape, but not suitable for reuse or weaving;
• chenille - wire covered with plush fabric, for which it was named fluffy.

Chenille wire is great for kids crafts. It is bright, soft, and bends easily. It can be safely given into the hands of preschoolers, but tinkering must be done under the supervision of an adult. Interestingly, chenille was originally used to clean smoking pipes and began to be used in art relatively recently. Beads, beads, silk ribbons and threads, coins, shells, semi-precious stones, buttons and much more, even plasticine are used as decoration.

In the craft, you can combine various types of wire in cross-section. For example, use the thicker one to create the frame, and the thinner one for winding. The appearance of the product will depend on how suitable the wire is. It is also worth thinking about the places of folds and fastenings in advance. The ends of the wire can be connected by bending, twisting, soldering, hardware or couplings. When the connection is made by welding or brazing, the ends should be carefully cleaned and degreased.

There are various techniques for working with wire.

• Twisting in spirals and curls. It has its own name - Wire wrapping. It is used for making jewelry, giving the craft a beautiful appearance.
• Ganutel - creating flowers using threads and various decorative ornaments.
• Beading - in fact, the same as in the classic version, only instead of fishing line and thread, wire is used, which gives the structure more rigidity and holds its shape better.

Wire, although considered a pliable material, requires effort when weaving. Therefore, the work requires tools:

• nippers;
• pliers;
• round nose pliers;
• soldering iron - some bulky parts require soldering;
• tweezers to hold items while soldering or gluing;
• small hammer and anvil - will flatten the wire;
• fine-grained sandpaper;
• locksmith scissors and ordinary;
• scotch tape or electrical tape - for temporary fastening of parts.

The set of tools can be much larger, depending on the purpose of the work and materials. For example, to connect large parts, you can use not only soldering, but also hot melt glue.

The wire allows you to make a variety of items, from jewelry to furniture. Everything is limited by the possibilities of the material and the imagination of the master. As a creativity, it is suitable for both children's crafts and complex professional work.

For beginners, contour crafts are recommended as the easiest ones. Here you can use a pre-prepared sketch by attaching the craft to the sheet. The algorithm for step-by-step work is simple: first, the outline is made, and then the internal details and decor. Some parts can be made separately along the contour, for example, the wings of a butterfly, a dragonfly or an angel, and then attached to each other. The winding can be tighter in the places where it is fastened.

Thus, a craft from a flat one can turn into a more voluminous one if you connect the parts not in the same plane, but in different ones. For example, make a bicycle, a phone stand, a decorative cage, or a basket. The craft can also be made from one piece of wire, simply bent several times, for example, a clothes hanger or a bracelet. Often, children tend to complicate crafts.Do not hinder them in this. Creativity develops not only fine motor skills, but also spatial imagination.

They can be flat and voluminous. For work, you can take the same patterns as for ordinary beading. Wire, unlike fishing line, keeps its shape perfectly, so you can make not only bracelets and rings, but also hats, for example, crowns and tiaras. Also, using this technique, you can create a keychain, pendant, wreath, earrings, bow, Christmas tree decoration, chandelier or lampshade and others and decor for interiors.

Such crafts are a great solution for inexpensive gifts or souvenirs.... From wire with strung beads, you can not only weave figures, but also wrap objects. This is how you can make a pencil cup, candlestick, or vase. To do this, the wire must be wrapped around a plastic cup or other container, it can be fixed with hot melt glue.

Here, the fantasy is truly limitless. The main thing is to make a stable stem and fasten it with buds and leaves. To make the flower itself beautiful, its sketch must be done on paper, and then bend the wire along the contour. Very tight bends are easier to make with pliers or pliers. You can fill the space of the petal using a winding made of thinner wire or threads (ganutel), as well as beads or other decorative elements. Leaves are made in the same way. You can attach it by soldering or braiding the wire on the stem.

Despite the seeming complexity, in fact, such figurines are pretty simple to make. For this, a frame is made from a thicker wire, and then wrapped with a thinner one. Thick threads can be used as winding. In this technique, you can make a horse, cat, octopus, bird, dummy, and even a dinosaur.

Bonsai is made according to the same principle. First, the main frame of the tree is made, and only then it is braided with wire. Several thick wires (5-7 pieces) are taken as a basis, they are twisted in the middle. The edges will mimic roots and branches, so bend them nicely. Thin branches can be supplemented with winding or beads. To prevent the tree from falling, a heavy base, such as a stone, is used. To do this, it is worth wrapping the "roots" around it. The base can be hidden in a flower pot and sprinkled with decorative stone chips.

It is made by twisting the wire into a spiral. For a product with a height of 15-20 cm, you will need about 0.5-1 m. Consumption depends on the angle of ascent of the spiral. The material must be rigid enough to stand upright... There are two ways to make a spiral. In the first, the wire is twisted into a spiral on a horizontal surface, and then pulled out like a spring. With the second, you need to stock up on a conical object in advance and wind the wire on it. You can just twist the spiral into a cone, but then the product will come out uneven and may fall to one side.

The tree is decorated with a garland or ribbons with beads. You can also pull the green threads vertically by intertwining with wire rings. Another interesting option is to put the wire into tinsel and only then twist it. It is important to remember that metal conducts current perfectly, so you should be extremely careful with an electric garland. If you bend the tip of the wire vertically from above, you can put on a star. Such a craft is very easy to make and is perfect not only for decorating the house, but also as a craft for school or kindergarten.

Classic Christmas balls can also be made from wire. For the form, you need a balloon or a ready-made ordinary plastic balloon. It is then braided with larger wire to create a skeleton.The plastic balloon can be left, but the air balloon can be burst and removed. Next, you need to fill the space between the rods. To do this, you can use thinner wire with strung beads or colored threads. The space can be filled tightly or gaps can be left. It is important to take into account the weight of the product received..

It is better to start working with wire with something simple, for example, with making outlines of animals, flowers, hearts. You can weave rings and bracelets. And to make the craft more even, print a sketch on a printer and check it in the process. Rigid wire is available from hardware stores. But for more delicate work, including for making jewelry, it is better to look for material in handicraft stores.

If there is no experience with wire, then it is better to start acquaintance with copper. It is more pliable for women and children. In addition, small mistakes are easier to fix, since it does not break after 3-4 bends, as, for example, aluminum. But for the smallest, chenille wire is suitable, since it is soft and bright.

In the next video, you will see how to make a chenille wire dog.