From Flat Mesh to 3D - Part 1

Recently, I've been fascinated by creating complex 3D wire forms from the lowly "chicken-wire" that one can get at a hardware supply store. Quite interesting wire sculptures can be formed from this flexible medium. I've used both hexagonal mesh and a square mesh. The hexagonal mesh lends itself to more organic forms. The square mesh is great for geometric and straight sides pieces.

I enjoy making the wire sculptures as it takes me out of my clay environment and puts me in a different mind set. With simple tools like a wire cutter and pliers, one can fabricate forms limited only by ones imagination. One word of caution though; your fingers can get really torn up by the wire even though I use the pliers as much as I can. Sometimes, it's just a lot faster to bend the wire by hand and if you are not careful ... ouch! When my fingers hurt, I take a break from the wire-forming, give my hands and brain a rest and come back to it later on with a refreshed enthusiasm.

This project is a spherical tea pot with a base. Wrapping a piece of steel mesh into a sphere is quite a challenge and I wanted to see how difficult this would be. The teapot body is made from one sheet of the mesh while the other parts were made from the left overs. I decided to make a base for the teapot to sit on.