Introduction: Airplant Holder From Clothes Hanger

I bought my first airplant and wanted to display it on my desk. I needed a hanger so I grabbed a hanger and started bending. This is pretty much a free form design so it's a little rough looking. I would recommend using a thinner and more malleable wire if you want a cleaner finish. The clothes hanger wire is very stiff and took quite a bit of force to bend. Overall, I'm happy how it came out and want to try a different design later.

Supplies

  • Metal Clothes Hanger
  • Needlenose Pliers

Step 1: Straighten the Hanger

Start by untwisting the hook end of the hanger. The hanger doesn't need to be perfectly straight, just enough to give you grip on the metal to bend.

Step 2: First Twist

Using the pliers grip the center of the hanger, this will be the start of the spiral. Bend one end to the left and the other to the right, use a 90 degree bend. Then, continue bending the wire around the pliers, I tried to stay as close to the pliers as possible to give me a tight smooth curve. NOTE: While bending the wire, raise the wire a bit to give it a raising spiral look.

Step 3: Continue Twisting

Continue bending the wire while slowly increasing the bending radius. I found it easiest to do a quarter turn of one end, then doing a quarter turn of the other wire end. This helped keep the wire from overlapping and help keep things evenly spaced. I was able to do 1.5 full turns to fit my plant.

Step 4: Clean It Up a Bit

Periodically check your spiral with a test fit of your plant so that you get a look you want. I did 1.5 turns to get my final shape, these turns are done twice since there's two wires being bent, one clockwise and the other counter clockwise. It looks like more because it's two spirals, see the photo with red and blue curves.

Step 5: Making the Handles

Make the wire end parallel to each other, see the photo with red/blue lines. This will help the hangers look nicer.

Using the pliers, grip the wire where the transition from curve to straight starts. Do a 90 degree bend, straight up, using the pliers to get a right angle. Do the same with the opposite wire.

Step 6: Trim the Handles

Using the cutter on the pliers, create a cut mark on the wire handles, this will make a crimp where the wire can be broken. Bend the wire back and forth on the cut mark to break the extra off.

Step 7: Finish It Off

At this point, you can do various things to the handle to make it easy hang as you'd like. For my preference, I took the straight ends and bent them to cross each. The point where they crossed, I used the pliers to twist the two end togethers. This made a triangular frame for the hanger. To make hanging easy on my desk lamp, I placed a magnet on the twisted end.

Other ideas are curling the ends to make a hook or 90 degree bend to make a rectangular frame. Have fun trying it out!