Introduction: Wire Letters Sculpture

About: Jack of all, master of none, but better than one.

This was just a fun little project I decided to do in honor of my Etsy store which I hope to soon have up and running, if you couldn't guess it's called Caiside Commodities. Hope you enjoy!

Step 1: Prep

So here are the materials you'll need:
.16 inch galvanized wire
Wood at least 1 inch thick (length will dependent on what you decide to write)

Tools:
Gloves (optional but very helpful)
Wire cutters
Pliers (one big, one small should do)
Plunge router/Drill Press/Rotary tool (anything that can drill a hole to a controlled depth)
Sandpaper
Wood glue
Gorilla glue

Step 2: Design

Figure out what you would like it to say, Be Creative! Make it personal! Just have fun with it! I

Step 3: Making the Letters, Tips and Tricks

So now you get to make the letters. When making the letters you have to leave 1/2 an inch of wire at the bottom of the letter (I'm going to be call this the anchor), this part will be rooted into the wood, so make sure you leave the required amount of wire! Continuing on, I made mine in a curly style because I thought it fit, in doing so I figured out a couple techniques that helped me so I'm going to share them with you :) :

  • "I" - for the "I" have a picture of it above, I got the length of the body, then at the end of the body I began rapping it around a pencil, I did this for 3 coils which made the dot over the "i"
  • "t" - for the "t" I worked my way from top to bottom, the pictures pretty much explain it, all of the pictures that have to do with "t" have notes on them indicating so
  • There is a picture included of all of the letters layed out which should be pretty self explanatory as in how to make the letter

Step 4: Measure, Cut, and Sand

Now that all your letters have been made we can move on.

  • Lay all the letters out with the desired length in between letters and such. Then measure the the length of the of the entire length of the word not just the bottom, if you don't then the piece of wood will be too short and it'll just look weird
  • Now my lengths ended up being 8 in. for Caiside and 15 in for Commodities.I got a 2 by 4, added two inches to my measured lengthsand then cut the pieces which ended up being 10 in and 17 in
  • Then I got a thinner piece of wood and cut it to 10 in. to be used as a support for the top block

Now we sand!

  • So I started sanding with 60, then moved to 100, then finished with 150 and that was it!

Step 5: Arrange and Drill

The next step is to determine the final arrangement of the letters.

  • Mark the middle of the wood length wise
  • Layout how you want the letters to look on the piece of wood and mark with a pencil where the anchor will go in
  • With your rotary tool drill all of the holes you marked
    • I forgot what sized drill bit I used but ideally it should be about the same size as the wire

Step 6: Adding a Rise (skip If You're Only Writing 1 Word)

We're almost done don't worry

  • Attach the wood together first before adding the letters, I should've have done that as it would have made things a lot easier.
  • Anyway, assuming you attach the wood first, use your wood glue to attach the rise for the back row of letter. Since the rise was thin and hard to clamp I decided to tape it together instead
  • After that has dried, center the the new heightened piece on the bottom one and follow standard wood glue procedures to attach them (you should be able to use clamps on this one)

Step 7: Adding the Letters

This part is pretty self explanatory, put some gorilla glue on the anchor and stick it into it's corresponding hole. Easy breezy.

Step 8: DONE!

Sit back and admire what a beautiful thing you have create. Hope you enjoyed :)

Metal Contest 2016

Participated in the
Metal Contest 2016

Wood Contest 2016

Participated in the
Wood Contest 2016