A Wire Horse Sculpture

I've said in my bio that when I was a kid I drew horses, horses and more horses. The first drawing book I ever had was How to Draw Horses by Walter T. Foster. In it Mr. Foster showed how by using simple lines and shapes anyone could draw a horse. So in my head I've always seen the shape of a horse in a linear format.

This was of no real consequence until one day while in college, it was some kind of 3D sculpting class, our instructor told us to bring to class a spool of hardware wire, pliers and wire cutters. We arrived realizing we were going to create a wire sculpture of some type but we had no idea what. When the instructor started the class they basically said something along the lines of "You have 3 hours. Make something."

I vaguely recall a collective groan coming from the room... Most of the other students ended up making spheres or oddly shaped asymmetrical objects. But me? I had an idea. I was going to make a horse, just like the linear horses of Walter Foster... But out of wire. Not only that I immediately knew just which horse I was going to make.

My favorite Breyer model horse from when I was a little kid. The Indian Pony. I'd memorized the shape of that horse pretty much every which way to Sunday. So with a single piece of wire I began.

This is not the actual horse I made that day in class. I gave that one to a friend who really liked it. When I saw her at my 10 year high school reunion she told me she still had it. I'd forgotten all about it but remembering made me want to make another one. So here it is. My second wire horse sculpture made from a single strand of hardware store wire. I have to admit I gave it a bit more of an Arabian horse profile but it was similar...

The way I avoided cutting the wire was by doubling it then back wrapping a bit to hold two sections of wire together. LOL my macro function might be a little too good. I had no idea the sculpture was this dusty until I saw the close ups.

Today a friend messaged me that she is going to make a wire sculpture and wanted to know if I had any tips to share with her. I wanted to photograph my horse to show her how to make these joints.

It's really amazing how from something as simple as wire you can create something, recognizable and in an odd way, even beautiful.

I guess this was my first hint that I had an affinity for working with wire. Pretty much everything I make in my couture bridal accessory line for The Flirty Bride is a combination of wire and beads. Who knew way back then that working with wire would someday become my "thing."

I'll be posting some other super cool wire creations for you soon made by my friend and artist Corinne Okada so stay tuned :D