Wire Tree Sculpture
A wire tree sculpture is a great way to spruce up a room without having the pain and mess of having a live tree in the house. The wire tree sculptures are good for models for a larger project and for the full-scale item itself. These are often created by artists because you are able to be very creative at a reasonable price and with a very limited amount of time. A tree is one of the most interesting things that can be made as a model with wire. If the artists has a good background with sketching trees, this will help because the knowledge of the proportions of trees will be helpful in the sculpting process.
Choosing The Wire
The wire that is chosen for the artistic piece is going to set the mood for your tree. If you want the tree to have a lighter, more airy feeling, a smaller gauge wire is best, but if you want something larger and more defined, a thicker, heavier wire will look much better. These kinds of wire can be purchased at craft stores, big retailers, home improvement stores or at Bonsai Tree Gardener | Bonsai Tools & Supplies. They are sold on spools, so make sure you get the correct amount, and choose between the common types of metal, steel or copper. Copper will be more bendable, but it will remain copper-colored, however steel isn’t as pliable but will be able to be colored.
Tools Required
You will also need to choose which tools you want to use for the production of your tree. Your hands will serve for most of the detail work; however a pair of needle nose pliers will also be helpful. The wire will be able to be bent without problem in most cases, but for the tiny curls and bending the pliers will be helpful. If you choose to use a similar gauge to coat hangers, this will most assuredly need at least one pair of pliers for bending.
Creating Your Sculpture
After you have purchased all of the wire and have planned out your tree and gathered your tools, you are ready to create your new piece of art. The base should be created first since it is the trunk of the tree. An easy way to do this is to take the pliers and bend the wire so it zigzags up and down vertically to create the trunk, and splay the bottom out while flattening the individual wires just like roots.
This will allow the tree to sit up on its own. You can also spiral the wire from the bottom to the top, both of these ideas will give you a realistic-looking tree while still being rather artistic. The leaves and the top of the tree in general can either be contoured or you can add an additional piece and connect them. If the artwork has leaves, make sure to vary the position, size, and area that the leaves are placed. Make sure the area where the leaves are looks full as well; continue adding leaves until it looks desirable to you. Using coat-hanger-like wire will result in it being much more difficult to do the top of the tree since it does not end as easily as the more rounded, smaller wire.
For more instructions on how to create or to purchase a wire tree sculpture.