An Easy Sculpture Armature - Human Figure

This is an easy way to put together a wire armature for sculpting a human figure. No welding or soldering is required, just wire twisting and bending. I plan to make the sculpture with colored grout, which is hard like cement when it cures.

Basically, two wires are laid out side by side in a human-like configuration and twisted together using two pliers turning in opposite directions.

I am leaving the legs a little long, because the ends will be set in grout to attach the figure to the base. Arms and legs can be shortened by cutting the wire. The torso area can be shortened by bending it back upon itself to take up some of the extra length.

Step 1: Lay Out the Wire

This is a configuration of two wires that will result in something human-like. Different configurations of the wires will work. Joints are strengthened when wire exits one limb and enters an adjoining limb or the torso area.

Twisting the paired wires shortens their lengths some, and makes the combined wires more rigid than single wires.

Step 2: Twisting the Limbs and Torso

Twisting is not difficult. To twist the legs, hold the hip joint with one pair of pliers and twist the foot area with another pair of pliers.

To twist the arms, hold the shoulder-neck joint and twist at the end of the arm.

To twist the torso, hold the shoulder-neck joint and the hip joint for twisting.

Step 3: Shortening the Torso

It is easier to make sections shorter than it is to lengthen them. To shorten them, just cut off the excess length, or bend it back upon itself to take up some distance. This photo shows the spine bent back upon itself within the chest area.