I just can’t get enough of this abstract trend! After making these coasters for our coffee table last week, I decided to try out a series of abstract face DIYS – and here’s number 2 out of 3 (so far!) DIY Abstract Face Wire Sculptures!
You guys, this one was super easy and you don’t even need much in terms of supplies! You can pick up everything at Michaels, or pop over to amazon and have them delivered right to your door with minimal effort. And if you’re intimated by the wire – don’t be! It’s super easy to work with, and easily bendable if you make a mistake and need to correct it.
I ended up making two versions of this DIY (one with a clay base and one without), because I discovered how incredibly adorable this looks as a stake for house plants! If you decide to go this route and just make a plant stake, this DIY is even easier and quicker, because you don’t have to use clay and wait for it to bake (this was the hardest part, because I’m super impatient!)
Read on for everything you need to make these trendy little sculptures!
SUPPLIES:
FOR THE COPPER SCULPTURE
- 12 gauge copper jewelry wire (I got mine from Michaels, but this would work too!)
- Jewelry pliers (make sure that they also have a wire cutter on them – like these)
FOR THE OPTIONAL BASE
- White and Black Oven Bake Polymer Clay
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Oven preheated to 275 degrees
STEP 1: MAKE THE FACE OUTLINE
To start, you’ll need to cut a piece of wire long enough to create your face shape. Decide roughly how big you want your sculpture to be – overestimating is better because you can trim it down if need be.
This DIY was a lot of trial and error for me, because I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted it to look like, and needed to make the design simple enough if I was attaching additional pieces, because I don’t have a soldering iron to weld the wire together. Side note – if you do have a soldering iron, it will be a lot easier to attach the pieces, and your end result will be a lot more polished (and professional-looking).
Start by using your pliers to carefully bend the wire to create the chin. The wire does bend pretty easily, so it was easy enough to keep it rounded. Keep bending until you get to the other side of the forehead, and then use your pliers to bend the wire in to create the eye and nose outlines. Depending on your preference, you can make these bends really sharp and defined, or keep them curvy. When I was happy with the face shape, I decided to cut off some excess wire beside the chin because I liked the abstract/unfinished look.
STEP 2: ATTACH THE EYE + MOUTH + STAND
This was probably the trickiest part of the project, because you need to apply a lot of pressure to the wire you’re adding to your face shape to get it to sit the way you want it to. I started out by cutting two medium sized wire strands and bending/squeezing the ends so that they attached to the face shape.
The image above shows two different ways you can attach additional wire: you can wrap it around the other wire a few times, or you can simply bend the end to attach it, which creates smoother lines in your sculpture.
Once my additional wire pieces were attached, I used my pliers to bend and twist the wire to create a spiral eye and lips.
The last additional piece you need to attach is the stand part of your sculpture that will either sit in your clay base, or stick into your plant. Decide how long you want the stand to be, and attach it to the chin by looping the wire around the other wire, or bending and squeezing to attach.
If you’re not adding the clay base, you can now stick your stake into your favourite plant and enjoy!
STEP 3: MAKE THE FAUX MARBLE CLAY BASE (OPTIONAL)
Start by taking little pieces of your white and black clay and role them together into a ball. If you feel like one colour is overpowering the other, you can keep adding little chunks along the way.
Once the two colours are combined, roll it out with your hands or a rolling pin into a tube shape. Then take your hands and twist the clay so that the colours become even more combined and swirly!
Roll it back into a ball, and use your fingers or an exacto knife to shape the ball into a square shape. I just used my fingers so that the edges stayed rounded.
Now use your copper stake to poke a hole in the clay where your sculpture will sit, and you’re ready to bake!
Put your clay square onto a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes or until it feels mostly solid. It will harden up a little more while it’s cooling.
Once it’s cool, add your wire face, and you’ve got your own trendy sculpture!
You can also switch up the design to create something other than an abstract face! A hand or peace sign would look really cool as well – or even a cactus!
This little guys will definitely be making their rounds in our apartment + in all of our favourite plant babies!
If you end up making these little gems, please share your creations on insta + tag me @lavender_julep!
p.s. this abstract face series isn’t quite over yet – so stay tuned for another fun little abstract face craft coming soon!
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