Chenille wire: what is it and what is it for?

Chenille wire is a plastic ornamental material that can be used to create original toys, jewelry and decor items. This type of raw material is as simple as possible to work with, safe when handled correctly, has an attractive appearance and high flexibility, allowing it to take any shape. It is worth learning in more detail about what it is and what is chenille wire for, what crafts can be made of fluffy wire for the New Year and other holidays with children.

Chenille wire is a kind of flexible material that has an unusual fluffy braid. It looks really unusual, has a thin and flexible structure. The material is named so because of the similarity to caterpillars (fr. Chenille). However, in English-speaking countries, chenille wire has a much less euphonious name pipe cleaner, which reflects its true purpose - cleaning smoking pipes.

In this case, the fluffy structure of the coating is not a whim, but an urgent need: it provides the material with good adhesion to the surface of the tube, working like a brush. In fact, chenille wire is a type of brush, only it has a flexible structure oriented to penetrate into the most inaccessible places and channels. In addition, in many countries, this product is popular as a fixture for a wide variety of things. The wire is used as a temporary lock, button replacement, etc.

Chenille bristles are most often made of fairly soft cotton-based materials, less often viscose silk. The toughest products have polymer inserts (polypropylene, nylon) for improved cleaning performance. For needlework, a special type of chenille wire is much more often used: with an elongated polyester fiber pile. At the same time, the structure does not change - the product has a core and a pile winding.

The main purpose of the chenille wire is obvious. But the scope of its application is much wider. This material is actively used for creativity. These are crafts with children, a variety of household appliances, decor and decorations. Chenille wire is well suited for handicrafts due to its properties: flexibility, ease of cutting and joining. With the right approach, durable and beautiful products that look very decorative are obtained from it.

You can make a lot of chenille. Among the most popular options are the following:

• New Year tree decorations;
• figurines of birds and animals;
• soft educational toys for toddlers;
• finger puppets;
• flowers and whole floristic compositions;
• details of carnival, theatrical costumes;
• decor and decoration of interior items.

The use of chenille wire is not limited to this. Its application depends solely on the imagination of the master, his desire to amaze others with his talents.

Chenille wire is a material that does not need additional decoration. But it is often used in combination with other popular craft bases. For example, Chenille or chenille, which gets its name from its resemblance to the furry body of a caterpillar, looks good in combination with a similar wire.

Pom-poms are a great addition to chenille wire. Together, terry balls and a fluffy flexible base easily form unusual futuristic compositions. Shiny chenille goes well with silver and golden garlands, tinsel, Christmas balls. Chenille matte texture is perfectly complemented by noble felt, voluminous pile fabrics of different densities. It can be combined with corrugated paper, beads and jewelry, natural materials and even dry pasta.

When working with chenille wire, there are no difficulties.

Detailed master classes for beginners will help you turn flexible chenille into an original craft or home decor element with your own hands. You just need to comply with the following recommendations:

• always work with the material in a specially equipped place, which will avoid the loss of important elements, teach the child to discipline;
• always check the integrity of the wire before work; if children are to use it, the ends of each workpiece are bent, giving them a rounded safe shape;
• chenille is rather fragile, based on a thin wire; you do not need to bend it much or deform it, since the elements can break;
• like any other wire, the ends of the chenille are quite sharp, which must be taken into account when working with it, observing safety measures;
• parts are connected with water-based glue; most often it is PVA or silicone composition;
• the main work with the wire consists in winding it onto rods of different diameters (pencils, markers, cylinders), as well as shaping it by simply bending the product with your hands.

These are the basic rules that are recommended to be followed when working with chenille wire. It is enough to follow them to get a good result.

Perhaps the greatest popularity of chenille wire was brought by handicrafts for children. Even preschoolers can make toys for toddlers, souvenirs for the New Year and for decorating a Christmas tree from this material. At the same time, the joy from the craft will be no less than from the most expensive gift.

A simple option suitable even for young children. To create a craft, you will need a narrow adhesive tape, scissors, cardboard, 2 pieces of light green and dark malachite wire, multi-colored beads. The order of work will be as follows:

1. twist one wire of each color into a single "garland";
2. string beads on the remaining 2 pieces;
3. twist them so that the colors of the decorative elements alternate;
4. cut a circle from cardboard with a radius along the height of the future Christmas tree, form a cone from it, fix it with adhesive tape;
5. wind the unadorned wire spirally on the base clockwise;
6. wind the wire with beads counterclockwise, fasten it to the other part of the Christmas tree;
7. remove the workpiece from the cone, straighten it; the tree is ready.

This is the simplest version of New Year's decor made of chenille wire. Even a preschooler can easily cope with it.

To make a funny fluffy toy from chenille wire, you will need the following set of materials and accessories:

• flexible base - 3x30 cm brown, 2x30 cm yellow, 15 cm white and 10 cm black;
• PVA glue;
• scissors;
• ready-made eyes and nose or beads.

The procedure is also as simple as possible, it includes the following steps:

• 1 piece of brown wire is bent so that you get 2 legs, belly and tail; all places of bends are twisted;
• the long end is attached to the tail so that a quadrangular frame of the body and legs are obtained, resting on a flat surface;
• a ring 3–4 cm in diameter is formed from 2 pieces of wire; an oval curves out of it - this is a muzzle, a yellow chenille is wound over it, the head is filled with the remaining brown;
• then a white strip is made between the eyes, the end of the wire segment is fixed under the yellow spiral;
• the next part forms the neck, winds on the body, the excess is trimmed;
• the body is spirally wrapped with 3 pieces of brown wire from the tail to the head, a dense neck is formed;
• the remaining yellow wire is divided into segments (small for the paws and 2 main for the ears);
• ears folded in two loops are twisted in a spiral, attached to a white strip on the head;
• from small pieces of chenille of white and black colors, you can make spots on the body of a toy;
• eyes and nose are fixed on the face;
• yellow chenille is wound on the tips of the paws; the dog is ready.

Spiral winding is always mentioned among the basic techniques for working with chenille wire. Using it, you can get many interesting toys. To create a bunny, you will need a solid chenille wire, ready-made eyes, a miniature nose pompom, glue and scissors, as well as a pencil, pen or marker.

The order of work is as follows:

1. prepare a wire segment;
2. bend it with the letter M;
3. Wind the 2nd piece of wire onto a pencil to make a spiral;
4. thread the M-shaped segment into it so that protruding ears are obtained, slightly bend them forward;
5. pull out the remaining parts of the wire at the bottom, bend them in the form of legs, fix the ends on the lower edge of the spiral; form a ponytail or attach a pompom instead;
6. glue the eyes and nose.

Chenille is an excellent material for making home holiday decor.For example, you can easily make snowfields from it - you just need to connect 3 base sticks, intertwining them in the central part. Further, along the edges, short rays are fixed in pairs, directed upwards. A rhinestone is fixed in the center. This snowflake looks good on a Christmas tree or window decoration.

The wire is simply bent along the contour of the base, a loop is formed at the top. You can decorate the product with beads.

For Easter, you can make table decorations in the form of bright eggs. For them, you can take a base in the form of a container of kinder surprises. It is greased with glue, wrapped with chenille wire in a spiral, achieving the most snug fit of the rows. If you use several colors, the product will look more elegant and festive. The finished and dried egg can be decorated with artificial paper flowers, beads, beads.

Making an original Christmas tree toy will be a snap if you have the right material at hand. A two-color star made of shiny chenille wire will decorate any Christmas tree, and if there are several such decorative elements, you can create a whole composition in the interior of the house. Even a child can cope with the work. To make the craft, you will need green and red chenille wire, golden braid, a ruler and scissors.

The manufacturing procedure step by step will look like this:

1. twist 2 ends of the wire of different colors;
2. using a ruler, divide both elements into 4 cm segments; twist at each such mark;
3. each section where the curl was made must be opened, giving the wavy elements a rhombus shape with 2 green and 2 red edges; you get a flat ribbon of geometric shapes;
4. the workpiece is folded into a circle, the ends of the extreme elements are connected, the resulting ring is straightened; it is very important to preserve the diamond-shaped, pointed shape of the edges;
5. in the upper part of the toy, a ribbon prepared in advance is passed through one of the elements, then it is tied up and forms a bow; for the remaining loop, you can hang the made toy on the Christmas tree.

By varying the color scheme, you can create crafts on different topics. Christmas stars can be silver or blue and white. For New Years, you can make them gold or red-green.

Metallic chenille wire is the best for creating eye-catching jewelry in a modern style. It is more effective, well suited for creating festive looks. For a bracelet, it is better to take a material 30 cm long in 2 different colors. This will make the finished product look even more interesting.

The order of manufacturing the product will be as follows:

1. take 1 wire, wind it around your finger, leaving the ends completely free;
2. remove the workpiece, connect all rings on the 1st side with the free end, pull the second "tail" to the opposite edge and also fasten the "spring";
3. gently pry the arcs and pull them outward, when the spring partially unfolds, the workpiece takes the shape of a half-bead; free ends should remain at the edges - through them the bracelet will be attached to the arm;
4. similarly create other blanks required for assembling the bracelet; their number depends on the size of the wrist, but on average 7-8 half-beads are enough.

Once all the details are ready, you can start assembling the bracelet. The elements are connected with the help of the preserved "tails", twisted together into a single chain. The extreme nodes also merge, forming a completely closed circle. The finished bracelet is tried on on the wrist; if necessary, its size can be easily extended with the help of additional modules.

Chenille wire is also good for creating miniature jewelry.To create a product, a small hair tie, large white and red beads will come in handy. The ring itself is best made of red or other bright chenille. To create a decoration, you need to follow these steps:

1. twist the chenille wire 30 cm long, threading an elastic band into it; so the product will be fixed on the base;
2. a white bead is put on 1 of the ends of the wire, twisted 2 times to secure it, other parts are attached in the same way; the easiest way is to arrange the beads in a circle, but you can choose any other scheme for fixing them;
3. 4 white and 1 red decorative elements are enough for a small ring; having formed the upper part of the ring, you can fix the edge of the wire, cut off the excess.

Chenille hair jewelry - for a party or for everyday wear - turns out to be very attractive and stylish. This material is great for creating headbands, and for forming a real princess crown or unusual hairpins. You just need to show a little imagination.

This accessory is perfect for a party, and for a holiday at school, in kindergarten. The hair accessory holds well, looks stylish and fashionable. For the base, you will need a ready-made headband for hair - plastic or metal, without decorations, as well as chenille wire - you can take a single color or several shades.

The procedure will be as follows:

1. fasten the selected piece of chenille around the rim so that sharp spikes are obtained - at an acute angle, twisting the base after each new element;
2. make 2 rows of smaller spikes, placing them in the intervals of the first level; continue work until the crown is elegant;
3. wrap the base of the rim with chenille of the same color; the crown is ready.

Similarly, you can create a version of the decoration with stars. They are folded separately, fixed on the base when it is decorated with wire. If you want a carnival effect, you can glue bright pom-poms along the edge.

To make a simple hair tie with an unusual chenille decor, you will need 6 bright pieces of material and 1 green one for the leaves. This is enough to form a flower. In addition, you need an elastic band on which all this will be attached. To create a jewelry, you need to follow these steps:

1. fold the flower wires together, twist them through an elastic band, secure with a spiral;
2. roll the resulting "rays" with a "snail" to the center; each petal should be bent;
3. beautifully arrange all the elements in the bud relative to each other;
4. fasten the wire on the base of the flower to create a leaf; bend each part of it so that you get an oval-shaped green plate, remove and fix the sharp ends.

The whole variety of chenille wire crafts can be appreciated here. Turtles and teddy bears, miniature pieces of furniture, rugs and hats - for a true master, the boundaries of creativity are always very wide.

Bright and simple butterflies - a cheerful addition to a floral arrangement or window framing.

Fluffy chenille puppies from the right angle, they look like real live dogs.

See the video below for a master class on making dogs from chenille wire.