It’s time to start your new project! You’ve already chosen the type of Wire you want to use, so now it’s time for you to create an armature. This is the skeleton that will form your figure and provide a backbone for all of your sculpting work. This tutorial will teach you how to make an armature out of Wire using simple tools like pliers and needle-nose pliers. It only takes about 20 minutes!
Step 1: Acquire Your Materials
You will need:
- Floral Wire or any really flexible thin wire
- Aluminum Foil
- Clippers
- The best kind of Wire for hanging things up is. It has a variety of uses, from suspending lights to holding paintings in place! You can get it at Home Depot, or you may find various types while browsing around art stores.
Step 2: Make the Wire Cuts
We need to cut our pieces from the Hangar wire or OOK for the armature (skeleton). The cuts should match what you see in this image: 9 inch long wires and a character about 7 inches tall, all assembled together.
Step 3: Wrapping the Shoulders and Spine
Next, you will take a long strip (at least 2 feet in length) of floral Wire and hold the two longer pieces parallel with one near each end for your neck.
Step 4: Wrap the Core Together
After connecting the longer hanger wires to your birdhouse, layout three-quarters of it on top and wrap around as shown, make sure you tightly pinch all ends so that there is no chance for animals or children entering after them!
Step 5: Add the Shoulders
Now add one of the shorter pieces across the top at the base of your neck. Be sure to wrap entirely around and off onto your shoulders so that this armature will remain sturdy!
Step 6: Add the Feet
Now you’re going to take the last two smaller pieces and bend them 90 degrees about 3/4 of the way down.
Step 7: Wrap the Feet
That’s it! All you have to do now is wrap the feet towards the bottom of your legs while leaving some space at that end. Then mount our armature onto a base, and voila – we’re done with one side of this project for sure-hear?!
Step 8: Begin Adding the Tin Foil
Begin wrapping strips of tin foil around the parts that require bulking. I typically wrap almost all my armature in this stuff because it seems like clay sticks better to it than anything else, and saving on material costs is always appreciated!
Step 9: Cover the Armature
In this step, the armature will be covered in a layer of tin foil. This is to help give it more bulk and make it easier for clay to stick onto the Wire. It also helps you see the form better when working on a large sculpture or one that’s hard to move around. Tinfoil can be found at any store that sells kitchen supplies, such as Wal-Mart or Target. Make sure not to buy aluminum foil, which has no relation whatsoever! It usually comes in long sheets and is very inexpensive.
Step 10: Pose Your Armature
Using the Wire coming out of your sculpture’s feet, you can now stand it up while working on it. A wooden or steel base with a hole roughly that size for Wire will hold its form nicely and keep things steady, so all work gets done efficiently!
Step 11: Voila! Begin Adding Your Clay!
So, you’re finally ready to take your sculpture from a rough-hewn rock star to a polished, masterful piece of art? Well, then the first thing that needs doing is adding Super Sculpy or having clay! Below are some examples of how this can be done. Have fun with it!
Conclusion
You can see how to create an armature for sculpting out of Wire and the benefits it has. Now you know what all those wires in your garage are perfect for! If this interests you, we encourage you to learn more about some other types of materials people use while creating sculptures. We hope our blog post was helpful and informative. Leave a comment or contact us if there’s anything else we can help with!
