Tag: wire

Throwback Thursday: ribbon wreath

On By CarynIn Craft

Sometimes things just don’t work out the way I hope. In December 2015 I made a large wreath from poultry wire and ribbon. It took me over a week to get all the loops of ribbon installed, and I had to buy more ribbon because I underestimated yardage. I should have made it smaller, but the thought of undoing it was worse than just pressing forward.

Photo description: hollow tube wreath frame made from poultry wire
Photo description: closeup of how I attached the wired ribbon to the poultry wire frame
Photo description: in process picture with looped ribbon work in stripes
Photo description: finished wreath sitting on a table that is three feet deep, the wreath overhangs the table
Photo description: wreath hung on an outside window because it was way too big for a door

The little bow I put at the bottom was woefully out of proportion to the huge wreath, but at that point I never wanted so see another loop of ribbon, possibly ever. I also didn’t care for the overall look when finished. I did learn from the process. I learned that looped projects take way more material than wrapped (logical). Storing such a large thing is difficult and the poultry wire frame didn’t hold up to rough handling. Ribbon is expensive, especially before the holiday sales.

Throwback Thursday: wire basket

On By CarynIn Craft, throwback

In July 2015 I was making custom wire baskets for a shelving unit in the house. I would draw out the size needed in chalk on the patio, flatten out 1/2” welded wire hardware cloth, and cut it with metal snips.

Photo description: basket pattern drawn on the patio in pink chalk
Photo description: hardware cloth cut into shape

When I cut the hardware cloth, I left one side of the corner seam with a vertical wire, and the other side with horizontal wires free for a half inch. When I folded the sides up, I used needle nose pliers to loop the horizontal ends around the vertical wire.

Photo description: close up of corner cut showing the free horizontal ends and the solid vertical edge
Photo description: close up of how the wire ends wrap around to secure the sides of the basket
Photo description: finished basket with hanger wire used to stabilize the upper edge of the basket
Photo description: nine wire baskets of various sizes

I experimented with ways to keep the hardware cloth from scraping the wood shelf. I sewed fabric to corners as one solution, and ran hanger wire on the bottom like sled runners on other baskets.

Vintage linen calendars

On By CarynIn Craft

My sister brought me some linen towels from the 70s. I liked the prints on them, so decided to use them as decoration. They all had a narrow sleeve at the top, so I cut down wire hangers to make hanging rods.

Photo description: white wire hangers cut with lineman’s pliers and the ends looped with needle nose pliers

I took leather cordage and tied it to the wire loops.

Photo description: calendar towel from 1974 with wire and leather hanging hardware

I didn’t like how the wire sagged, so I tacked the linen to the leather about a third of the way in with cotton thread.

Photo description: closeup of tacked section
Photo description: same towel hanging on the wall, but with thread tacks and no sagging, towel has drawings of kitchen implements
Photo description: linen calendar towel from 1973 with birds hanging on the wall with new hardware along with chickadee art, and photos of a barn owl and field mouse by Oliver Hellowell

The production of calendar towels began in the 1950s and was an invention of Stevens Linen Works in Dudley, Massachusetts.

Throwback Thursday: the process

On By CarynIn Craft, throwback

I found a picture from December 2014 that shows how the creative process sometimes works, or doesn’t. I was trying to develop a simple, repeatable wire dragonfly shape and went through many, many iterations.

Photo description: twelve partially formed brass wire dragonfly shapes on a green table

I still wasn’t entirely pleased with the end result, although I did make a few more like the shape in the bottom left.

Sometimes my ideas work right off the bat, but more often they go through a series of trials, with mostly errors. If we aren’t willing to have a few gnarls in the thread, it is hard to achieve much of anything.

Throwback Thursday: first ghost

On By CarynIn Craft

In October 2014 I made my first poultry wire ghost.

Photo description: shape of a young girl in a pioneer style dress shape with bonnet sculpted from poultry wire and standing in grass in a backyard

I had seen photos of wire ghosts and loved how the mesh looked etherial, especially at first glance in the dark.

Photo description: same wire sculpture installed in a front flower bed

One ghost led to two, as I wanted to make one larger.

Photo description: woman shaped sculpture made from poultry wire with the hands over her face

The idea to put the ghost’s hands over her face came from watching Dr Who and the weeping angels. It also solved the awkwardness of sculpting hands.

Photo description: weeping woman ghost in the front garden bed with a crown of leaves.

I had many requests for these ghosts, so I wrote instructions with tips and tricks, which has become my best selling item on Etsy.