Wire Hanger Art

To the untrained eye, wire hangers are just wire hangers. But to an artist who works with found objects, the
wire hanger can be used to create memorable art. From unique, yet comfortable chairs to full size gorillas, wire hangers have been used to create what most people would deem to be unimaginable. All it takes is a bit of creativity, free time, and some tools and you, too, could create some art for your home, garden, or office space.

Necessary Tools

In order to make useful or decorative art pieces, you will need a few different tools. The basic tools include wire cutters, pliers, and a simple soldering iron. Depending on what you do with the hangers, you might need to buy more specialized tools, especially if you are planning on doing a lot of twisting and bending.

Create Light Fixtures

Hangers can be used to create unusual lamps. If you can gather at least 50 hangers, you can arrange them into a circular shape, attach a light bulb and electricity kit and you can easily make a hanging light fixture or a standing lamp. Guests will have to look a few times to see what you used to make your lamp. The light will reflect nicely off of the wire sheen and will create a soft ambiance.

Stacked Sculptures

Some artists create unimaginable sculptures with hangers. Some of the sculptures are full size animals, heads, or other objects. Many times, the hangers are left as is without any clipping or soldering. They usually use the original curves and handles, stacking them and turning them into the shapes that will eventually turn into a recognizable shape. You will need hundreds, if not thousands of wire hangers to create a sculpture.

Single Hanger Sculpture

While some artists prefer to create three-dimensional sculptures, there are others who prefer to make pieces of art using just one hanger. With a set of pliers and a few forms, you can create interesting shapes that would look great on the wall, hanging from planters, or decorating an outdoor space. Your hanger sculptures can be made to look like people, animals, palm trees, air planes, cars, or anything else that you can imagine and create with simple tools.

Hangers and Hosiery

Kids who have taken art classes might have made wire hanger and hosiery art. With at least one wire hanger, you can bend it into abstract shapes, then cover the shape with hosiery and then spray paint it. Some artists use wire hangers to make floral arrangements, too. You can also use the wire hangers and nylons to create lampshades with a special ambiance.

Wire hangers can be used for other artistic project. They can be used for artistic mobiles, too. Since they are already well balanced, you will just need to be sure that you have attractive and interesting things to hang to create the mobile. Some artists use hangers on wire frame chairs in place of woven materials. If you have a simple form for the left and right sides of a chair, you can connect them with hangers and create a flexible back. They can also be used to create wave-like banners that can add interest to a ceiling or can be made into a floor to ceiling curtain in a modern home.