How about some animal print wired wall? Creating words from wire is easier than you think. With a bit of practice, you’ll be able to create pieces of all sizes. My inspiration was that I wanted to make something artful and chic for my family room to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but not with the traditional colors of red and pink. My solution was to use bright teal wire and jewelry pliers to bend out the word love. I then offset it with glittery animal print scrapbook paper, and now I have art that can stay up all year long!
What you’ll need
- Colored wire, 16 gauge
- Jewelry pliers
- Glittered cardstock
- Matted frame
- Glue stick and glue strips
Helpful Tip: It might take a couple round of practice to get the hang of bending the wire. Note that the glue strips are a dry adhesive, they are gummy strips of glue that are very sticky and can be found in the adhesive aisle at the craft store.
Variations: Use different gauges of wire for different looks. Spell out other words and use to make necklaces, bracelets and even rings or ornaments. They also look great as embellishments on greeting cards!
How to make it
- Cut a piece of wire that measures about 12″ long. Be careful not to crinkle it, just like in real life, you want your love to be nice and smooth!
- Use a thick marker to write out LOVE on a piece of paper. Use this as your guide to bend your letters. Use one hand to anchor hold the end of the wire and the other hand to bend the wire. It won’t match perfectly against your guide, but pretty close! The wire is very forgiving, so you can crimp the bottom of the “V” or curl the ends of the word.
- Practice on several versions. That way you can use the best ones.
- Open the frame, remove the glass (you don’t need it) and cut a piece of the glittered cardstock to line it. Assemble the frame. Add the glue strip to the back of the wired word, make sure the glue does not show.
- Tear a piece of contrasting cardstock and glue it in the center of the frame. Now affix the word. Press in place.
- Hang your frames and enjoy!
