April 11, 2011

How the Wire Man was born

April 11, 2011

Wire is so much fun to work with, there’s really nothing you can’t do with it. I’ve been making these wire craft items just to see what I can do, and so far it’s a blast, the kids have fun picking out shapes, color wire and the beads so they help with most of it. The first one I did was the butterfly, you can see that one here and how to do it. One of the next ones I made was this Wire Man, and he’s become part of a game in our house. Funny how silly little things engage the kids the most!

My son is the one who picked this out, he knew he wanted to have a big head, curly funny looking legs and arms. He picked out the beads and knew just what it should look like! After Wire Man was made he took place in my plants near the window among other places.
  Each day my son moves him around to another plant waiting for me to notice, and if I don’t see it right away he’ll put it somewhere else, like on top of my coffee, or on the key hooks near the door. The girls think it’s spooky he moves around so much, I just can’t stop laughing at how much fun my son gets out of this one wire craft. It’s become a rather fun daily game. 🙂

How to make a Wire Man!

One Marble for the head
2 beads for the hands
2 beads for the  feet
4 at least beads for the body depending how big you want to make this.
12 gauge crafting wire for the main body
18 gauge crafting wire for legs and arms
wire cutters (do not use scissors)
Nylon jaw pliers

Directions

Cut a long piece (about 6 or so inches) of the 12 gauge wire. Take the marble and curl the wire around it so till it’s curled around the entire ball. Straighten the wire to make the neck and body.

Slip the body beads on all the way up to the marble head. Take the wire and bend it to the side so the beads don’t fall off. You’ll trim it in a minute.

Now using the 18guage wire, cut a length for the arms. Center the wire under the first bead under the Marble head, and twist it around to keep it in place. Place the beads your using for the hands on each end, while making sure to curl the ends with the pliers so the bead doesn’t move.
 
 You can either curl the arms up, or make zig zags, I used a pencil to curl them and pulled them out to stretch a little.
Cut a longer piece of wire for the legs and repeat with the beads and ends. Using the body wire that’s sticking out, twist the center of the leg wire around it and secure it till it stays in place. I just twisted it into a little knot and trimmed it off. Now either curl or zig zag the leg wires till they are the way you want.
Wire Man is born!
Have fun!

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