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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Wire Family Tree Tuorial

Wire Family Tree 

(here's the link with a picture)http://peakviewenrichment.blogspot.com/2008/09/word-blocks-create-lasting-fun-or.html

II apologize to everyone for the frustration in not getting answers!  I did this blog just for that super Saturday, and had no idea it would get to be so popular! It was the first blog post I had ever done, and I didn’t know people could ask questions.  So sorry to everyone!

 I apologize I have no pictures for the tutorial, but I made that years ago.

Here’s the specifics I can remember.

Materials:-

picture frame, glass and backing removed.

black foam board.

20 gauge wire (mine was silver, but you can use any color) you can probably go a little thicker if you want to.

28 gauge wire

wire cutters

needle nose pliers

silver paper (even wrapping paper in a pinch), or really thin metal (be real careful with the metal, it is super sharp once you cut it, but you can get sheets thin enough to cut with scissors at a craft store.

green ribbon, and other colors if wanted- I used quarter inch, but you can use any size you want.

some time and patience.

hot glue or E600 glue-or other strong glue.

HOW TO DO IT

1. FRAME Pick whatever size/color  frame you want.   (Mine was an 11x16 size) – remove glass and cardboard.

2.CUT  black foam board (from any craft store).  Cut the foam board to fit snugly inside your frame.  You can put it in at this point.

3.CURLS Using your wire cutters, tart cutting your 20 gauge wire into strips- the sizes vary, because your frame sizes will vary.  I started with the trunk, so mine were probably 8 or so inches long.  Using your needle nose pliers, curl one end into a pretty curl.    Just keep cutting and curling and laying out on the foam board until you get the size tree you want. 

Don’t forget to leave room on your foam board for the edges of the frame!  if you think you might forget, put it in the frame and work around it. it isn’t much harder to do it this way.  Whatever makes you happy.



4. ADHERE You can probably glue the pieces in, but any mess ups and it will show.  I used the 28 gauge wire, cut into small strips, and made a very small horseshoe brad kind of a thing, put it around where two wires came together and pushed it into the foam board.   it will show, but we will take care of that in a second.

5.TRUNK wrap the trunk of your tree with 28 gauge wire (and or ribbon) I did mine with wire first, then covered it in ribbon.  When you do the ribbon, just leave the ends long so you can tie a bow, or add one at the very end.  You can hot glue this one down if you are careful with your glue, or just use the wire, you can’t see it once you put your bow on.

6. LEAVES- These are not just décor, they help cover up some of your small 28 gauge wires that hold it all together.   Use your metal (or paper) and cut out little leaf shapes.  I then indented the metal, (but you could do it with paper and a non working pen or anything with a ball on one end  too, I would think) to look like veins on the leafs.  Once you are happy with how many leaves you have, start gluing them on.

7.PRETTY IT UP! Then use pictures and ribbon to finish the project off.  you can either poke a hole in the picture and tie the ribbon on through the hole or just glue the ribbon and picture in place.

8.  LOOSE ENDS if you haven’t done so already, put the foam board into the frame.  You may need to glue it in if you don’t have any of those little brackets in the back.

I added a cute saying “My greatest blessings call me Grandma” mounted on cardstock to mine.

That’s it!  You are all done!

Hope this was helpful!

If you want it on a wood plaque and not in a frame, just pick your plaque, paint it ,and follow all other instructions.  You will need to glue it, so be very careful with the glue and cover it with leaves and bows.

Letha

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