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Don't Fly Away Project
UPC:
Our new publication GreenCraft has inspired me in so many ways. I now look at regular everyday items differently and every time I’m about to discard something I usually find myself thinking about how I can re-use it creatively. Like many households I have a collection of white and brass "drycleaner style" wire hangers that have accumulated over the years. Recently when cleaning out it occurred to me that these simple items could be shaped and transformed into miniature decorative bird cages!
To create a small cage you will need approximately 3 hangers, wire cutters, and a pair of pliers. First start by cutting a piece of wire and creating a circle. This will be the base. Then unwind another hanger so that it became a long piece of wire. In the middle of the piece I created the loop at the top and with the excess bring the down on either side of the loop and attaché to the base circle by winding tightly around the base wire a few times and then snip off the excess. Then you will cut 7 pieces of wire down to a similar length and one-by-one you will attach one end to the neck of the top loop and the other to the base. When you have finished all of them and cut off all the excess wire you can manipulate and bend the wire to create more of a birdcage shape. All the winding that takes place with connecting the wires can be done with the pliers, but I also found that some hangers were more flexible than others and for those I was able to wrap and connect without pliers.
I wrapped some green satin ribbon around the neck to cover up all the wire wrapping. It would be fine to leave the neck as is without ribbon for more of a raw look. I then used an ARTchix Studio collage image and glued the image to a thick piece of cardstock then cut out the image. Thread a green crystal onto some clear thread. On the girl image wrap some brown scrapper’s floss around her waist to create a belt, tie it at the back and then punch a brad through the center of the belt. On the back of the girl image thread the clear thread through the belt to secure it and then tie the top of the clear thread to the section that is just under the loop.
Our new publication GreenCraft has inspired me in so many ways. I now look at regular everyday items differently and every time I’m about to discard something I usually find myself thinking about how I can re-use it creatively. Like many households I have a collection of white and brass "drycleaner style" wire hangers that have accumulated over the years. Recently when cleaning out it occurred to me that these simple items could be shaped and transformed into miniature decorative bird cages!
To create a small cage you will need approximately 3 hangers, wire cutters, and a pair of pliers. First start by cutting a piece of wire and creating a circle. This will be the base. Then unwind another hanger so that it became a long piece of wire. In the middle of the piece I created the loop at the top and with the excess bring the down on either side of the loop and attaché to the base circle by winding tightly around the base wire a few times and then snip off the excess. Then you will cut 7 pieces of wire down to a similar length and one-by-one you will attach one end to the neck of the top loop and the other to the base. When you have finished all of them and cut off all the excess wire you can manipulate and bend the wire to create more of a birdcage shape. All the winding that takes place with connecting the wires can be done with the pliers, but I also found that some hangers were more flexible than others and for those I was able to wrap and connect without pliers.
I wrapped some green satin ribbon around the neck to cover up all the wire wrapping. It would be fine to leave the neck as is without ribbon for more of a raw look. I then used an ARTchix Studio collage image and glued the image to a thick piece of cardstock then cut out the image. Thread a green crystal onto some clear thread. On the girl image wrap some brown scrapper’s floss around her waist to create a belt, tie it at the back and then punch a brad through the center of the belt. On the back of the girl image thread the clear thread through the belt to secure it and then tie the top of the clear thread to the section that is just under the loop.
