There are many pretty and useful articles that can be made for the home, using simple tools and inexpensive materials. Who would imagine, for instance, that such attractive objects as the ones shown in these illustrations could be made from a few pieces of wire of different sizes? Yet, with a little care and perseverance, you may quickly become an expert in wire-working.
To begin with, it is necessary to obtain several yards of soft iron wire varying in sizes from No. 12 to No. 18, also a small roll of soft wire about the size that florists employ to attach flowers to short sticks when making up bouquets.
The tools needed will be a flat and a round nosed pair of pincers, or pliers (see Figs. 1 and 2), a wire-cutter, and a tack-hammer. You will also need a sheet of smooth brown paper, and a soft lead-pencil with which to draw the patterns.
A Bird-cage Bracket
Begin by making simple things; then as you succeed in producing good work you will be able to take up the more difficult patterns. A bird-cage bracket is an easy object to start with. Enlarge the design shown in Fig. 3 so that it will be sixteen inches high, with the hook-arm projecting seven inches from the main upright rod.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.
The pattern is to be drawn out the full size on smooth brown paper; then the wire should be bent and shaped over the lines to conform to the design. Use very heavy wire for the upright and projecting arm, and a smaller size for all the scroll-work. The finest copper wire should be used to bind the scrolls together, and so make tight unions where two edges of wire come together and where the wires cross.
This bracket should be firmly secured to the window-casing with two staples. The staples should not be driven quite home, thus allowing the bracket to be swung from one side to the other of the casing, as though on hinges. This is especially desirable if the bracket is to be used for a hanging-basket or pot of flowers, as it can then be moved against the window or turned back to the wall, to permit of the window being opened or cleaned.
The iron wire should be given two coats of good black paint, or, if desired, it may be gilded or silvered. An excellent black preparation for iron may be made by thinning ivory-black ground in oil with equal parts of Japan dryer and turpentine. Or you may try adding a little lamp-black to brass lacquer or shellac.
The paint should be applied to the iron with a soft hair brush, and the first coat must be good and dry before the second one is applied.
If brass wire is used instead of iron the joints should be soldered, to lend additional strength. The soldering is an easy process and requires only a little care. To do it nicely, obtain from a plumber a little soldering solution in a bottle, and, with a piece of stick, place a drop of solution on each union that has been bound with the fine brass wire. Hold the union over a spirit-lamp flame, and when the wire has become thoroughly heated touch the joint with a piece of wire solder; the latter will instantly melt and adhere to the joint. If soldering solution is not used the joint cannot be soldered, and if the wire is not hot enough the solder will not melt. If the wire should be too hot the solder will melt and fall off from the joint like a drop of water. A little experience will soon enable one to become an expert solderer, and the process should be employed wherever possible, as it strengthens the joints and unions, and holds them rigidly in place. Galvanized or tinned iron wire can be soldered in the same manner.
The brass wire should be painted black the same as iron, but before any paint is applied the superfluous solution should be washed off with water, as paint will not hold if applied over the soldering solution.
A Photograph Easel
Fig. 4 shows a design for a photograph easel that will make an attractive table or mantel ornament if neatly constructed from wire of medium size. It should not measure more than nine inches in height, and where the lattice-work joins the lower cross-bar two hooks should be arranged on which the photograph can rest.
A back support, or prop, to the easel may be made of wire, and soldered to the bar at the upper edge of the lattice-work. The lattice need not be made of as heavy wire as the scroll-work, and where the strands cross each other the junctions are to be securely bound with fine wire.
Larger easels may be made for small-framed etchings, for panel photographs, or for other purposes, but as the size of the easel is enlarged the thickness of the wire should be increased to give additional strength.
By reducing the size of the lower scrolls this design would be quite appropriate for a lamp-shade, and instead of the lattice-work a piece of prettily colored silk or other translucent material may be inserted to serve as the backing.
A Match-box
An attractive design for a match-box is shown in Fig. 5. The total height of the back piece should be nine inches, and the width three inches. The match-receptacle should be an inch deep and project one and a half inches from the wall.
Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6.
It should be lined with silk or other goods, to prevent the matches falling through the open-work of the grille. Finished in black, with a red or orange colored silk lining, this match-receptacle will be found both useful and ornamental.
A Fairy Lamp
A hanging fairy lamp, like the one shown in Fig. 6, makes a pretty ornament for the parlor or living-room.
The bracket part is made in a similar manner to the bird-cage bracket, and should be of stout wire. The candle-sconce, or lamp part, is built up of four sets of scrolls arranged about an old tin candlestick top, and securely bound together with strands of fine wire closely wrapped.
By using brass wire soldered at the unions a stronger construction is possible.
The sconce should be suspended from the bracket-hook by means of four light wires. These latter may also support a canopy shade made over a light framework of wire.
Ordinary colored candles will look well in this fairy lamp. To keep the colors in harmony it would be well to obtain candles of a tint that will match the color of the silk shade. The lamp may be fastened to a door or window casing, or perhaps to the sides of a mantel-piece.
A Picture-frame
Fig. 7 shows the design for a picture-frame that is intended to hang against the wall. The frame proper may be made of very narrow picture-frame moulding around which the grille-work is arranged. Where the latter touches the wood-work it is to be made fast with small staples driven in the outer edge, and the ends clinched at the inside, or rabbet, of the frame. Or fine wire may be used in place of the staples.
Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9.
If an all-iron effect is desired, the rabbet should be made of thin stove-pipe iron or sheet-brass, bent into angular form and finally shaped to the required size. Around it the grille-work is to be made and bound, in about the same proportion as shown in the drawing.
A Glove-box
A design for a glove-box is shown in Fig. 8. It should be ten inches long, five wide, and three inches high.
The bottom should be made of a thin piece of wood, and the entire inside, including the top, should be lined with some handsome and substantial material in bright colors.
The four sides and the top should be made in separate pieces, and afterwards bound securely together with fine wire.
A Window-grille
Fig. 9 is a grille for the upper part of a window. It will be very effective if constructed of heavy wire, the design being neatly carried out. Variations of this grille may be made for doorways, transoms, and skylights, and with the hints and drawings already given a bright boy will soon be able to invent and work out his own designs. There are dozens of other objects that may be made in iron-work, and these will soon suggest themselves to the young craftsman.