This instructable describes how to make a personalized wire hanger with a person's name built-in so it's looks cool and stylish in your child's wardrobe ;-).
The original idea is not from me. One day I discovered via the Inhabitots' newsletter to which I'm subscribed to (http://www.inhabitots.com/), someone who was making custom made hangers for baby clothes. I found her profile back on Etsy (see http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28164910). I loved the idea and thought it was first of all very easy to make but also very unique.
Anyway, as I have a 11 months old baby boy and as we received tons of clothes for him (he even has more clothes than me or my wife), we're constantly lacking hangers, so I've decided to make some for him based on lilafrances' idea from Etsy. Also, a lot of our friends are in their thirties and babies are popping up everywhere, this of course represents quite a budget in baby presents. But now thanks to this marvellous idea I'll have super cool personalized custom handmade presents for all my firends' little ones... = instant karma for me ;-)
As you've guessed by now, my son is named Sean.
This hanger on the picture was my first one, in the meantime, I've improved my "n" and "s".
You can see other hangers on lilafrances' profile (see link above); it'll give you some ideas on how to make the letters.
EDIT 04/08 - I made another hanger tonight for a little girl named elvie. Here's the picture
EDIT 11/09 - I made two other hangers tonight
The original idea is not from me. One day I discovered via the Inhabitots' newsletter to which I'm subscribed to (http://www.inhabitots.com/), someone who was making custom made hangers for baby clothes. I found her profile back on Etsy (see http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28164910). I loved the idea and thought it was first of all very easy to make but also very unique.
Anyway, as I have a 11 months old baby boy and as we received tons of clothes for him (he even has more clothes than me or my wife), we're constantly lacking hangers, so I've decided to make some for him based on lilafrances' idea from Etsy. Also, a lot of our friends are in their thirties and babies are popping up everywhere, this of course represents quite a budget in baby presents. But now thanks to this marvellous idea I'll have super cool personalized custom handmade presents for all my firends' little ones... = instant karma for me ;-)
As you've guessed by now, my son is named Sean.
This hanger on the picture was my first one, in the meantime, I've improved my "n" and "s".
You can see other hangers on lilafrances' profile (see link above); it'll give you some ideas on how to make the letters.
EDIT 04/08 - I made another hanger tonight for a little girl named elvie. Here's the picture
EDIT 11/09 - I made two other hangers tonight
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: What you need
Pliers
I used two different type of pliers. The bigger one to make the sharp angles and to pinch the wire so it'd stay in place. And the thinner one to make the little curls. Usually these type of pliers can cut the wire too. If it's not the case for you, you'll obviously need cutting pliers.
Wire
In the nearest DIY shop they didn't have the same type of wire like normally used for wire hangers. It was either too thin or too thick. I've finally found a white fence wire coated with PVC. It's actually meant to be used as a drying line in the garden. The wire has a section of 3.2mm which is very thick. I'd recommend to take a wire 2.5mm thick max. It'll still provide enough stability so your hanger will be solid while give your more flexibility to make nice letters and curl the wire the way you want. With my 3.2mm one it was not easy to bend the wire and make nice round letters.
You can see on the picture below the thickness difference between my white coated PVC wire and the standard wire hanger
A standard wire hanger
I used a standard wire hanger as a template to have an idea of the measurement or a normal hanger. While making my hanger, I often put it on top of the template to compare the size, angles and so on...
Notebook and pen
To write what you want to make in one go. I'll explain in the next step
I used two different type of pliers. The bigger one to make the sharp angles and to pinch the wire so it'd stay in place. And the thinner one to make the little curls. Usually these type of pliers can cut the wire too. If it's not the case for you, you'll obviously need cutting pliers.
Wire
In the nearest DIY shop they didn't have the same type of wire like normally used for wire hangers. It was either too thin or too thick. I've finally found a white fence wire coated with PVC. It's actually meant to be used as a drying line in the garden. The wire has a section of 3.2mm which is very thick. I'd recommend to take a wire 2.5mm thick max. It'll still provide enough stability so your hanger will be solid while give your more flexibility to make nice letters and curl the wire the way you want. With my 3.2mm one it was not easy to bend the wire and make nice round letters.
You can see on the picture below the thickness difference between my white coated PVC wire and the standard wire hanger
A standard wire hanger
I used a standard wire hanger as a template to have an idea of the measurement or a normal hanger. While making my hanger, I often put it on top of the template to compare the size, angles and so on...
Notebook and pen
To write what you want to make in one go. I'll explain in the next step
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
Christopher Jarratt does something very similar, a kind of premium product though.
http://www.hookpegsupport.com/
http://www.christopherjarratt.com/coat_hangers.html