Making the Jig

• 1). Trace the template for your wire sculpture onto a wooden board. The board should be at least 2 inches larger than the template around the perimeter.
  
  
• 2). Hammer finishing nails every 1/4 inch along the outline of the pattern. Finishing nails are headless, so the wire sculpture will be simple to remove. Clothes hanger wire is heavy; make sure to insert the nails at least 1/2-inch into the wood.
  
  
• 3). Place finishing nails into every crevice, dip and point along the outline. The clothes hanger wire will follow the outline of the nails. If you neglect to place a nail into an indentation in the pattern, the wire sculpture will not be true to the design.
  
  

Wrapping the Clothes Hanger Wire

• 1). Cut the wire on a clothes hanger where it meets at the top. Straighten the bended wire as much as possible.
  
  
• 2). Make a loop at one end of the clothes hanger wire with round nose pliers. Hook the loop over a finishing nail in the jig.
  
  
• 3). Wrap the clothes hanger wire around the outside of the nails in the jig. Make another loop in the wire at the end of the pattern to fit over the same nail as the first loop. Cut off the excess wire. If the wire is not long enough to fit around the jig, straighten another clothes hanger and hook it to the first one with a loop.
  
  
• 4). Slide the wire shape from the jig. Connect the loops together by twisting a 2-inch section of 22-gauge craft wire around them both.