Monday, August 31, 2009

Chicken wire dress form.........tutorial

Start with a section of chicken wire (these come in rolls of various lengths and widths) and cut a straight line across, and form into a cylinder. Where the seam up the back joins, you will have to twist the ends to secure each little opening. Below photos show the way I cut and twisted the ends to minimize sharp points.


Now comes the fun part!
Start scrunching the wire into whatever shape you are trying to achieve....mine never come out the same. (You will know you are done when your hands are cramped, and your manicure in shreds!)

Spray paint the color you want---I combine black, rust and brown to get a rusty, vintage look.

These take about 4 hours from start to finish.

18 comments:

red.neck chic said...

oh my gosh - i am so excited that you have put this on here!!! thank you!!! i have to get busy now...

Cowboys and Custard Mercantile said...

Oh to have a figure like that!
Thank so much for your visit.. it's lovely to meet you. We obviously share the thrill of the rummage!
One man's junk is another man's treasure.

Michele x

Tootsie said...

awesome!!! I am SO going to try this!!!

trash talk said...

How very generous to share. It's such a super idea! I think even I could manage this one.
Debbie

EMBELLISH said...

You did such a beautiful job! Thanks for sharing.

Barbara Jean said...

Thank you. I love it!!

I was going to try one, but i was going to roll it around myself and have my husband shape it. Painful i figured, but worth it to get that mannequin!

Thanks for saving me from all that pain. =0)

Blessings
barbara jean

PS You sprayed it the same way i had for years (for other projects), but now they actually make rust colored paint. Still needs just a shot of black here and there though.

Barbara Jean said...

Have you tried just doing one down to the waist and put it on some kind of stand, like maybe a floor lamp pole and base?

I'm trying to figure that out.

thanks

Barbara jean

Mitzi Curi said...

Wow, I just stumbled on your blog tonight and love your dress form. I plan to give this project a try next weekend!

Sharyn said...

Found this when I was looking for a tutorial on how to make a wire dress form. Love this! Thanks for sharing.
Sharyn

The Feathered Nest said...

This is WONDERFUL!!! I remember seeing you make this project a while ago and here you say that you spray it multiple colors to achieve that rusty good look we all love ~ thank you angel!!!!! I just HAVE to come see you soon.....hugs and love, Dawn

janae cairns said...

Thanks for the AWESOME idea and great tutorial! Found it last night and my handcrafted chicken wire "lady" as the kids call it is sitting in my garage drying :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to tackle this project!! Thank you so much for posting this tutorial. I must say that Sassytrash is my absolute favorite blog. You have so many wonderful ideas that I want to try. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

La Roca Gallery said...

Awesome Tut! Thank you!

Good Time Charlie said...

Just found this on a search to figure out how to make this! Thanks, this is fantastic.

Kitty said...

would this be useful or decorative? thanks, Kitty

Barbara Jean said...

fun. thank you.
found you on pinterest.

blessings
barb

Anonymous said...

To get the shape of the boobs up top I was thinking of making a plaster mold of myself (with help of a friend of course) and once it's dry to wrap the wire around it. You can find plaster mold recipes online. Usually pregnant moms use it to make a mold of their pregnant belly's. I'm so going to try this.

Also don't be afraid to cut up the skirt and bend it to give it a ruffled look. You can also add ruffles by adding more wire pieces ...your choice.

MommyPetite said...

How exciting!!! This will be my next project for this weekend!!! Thank you.