Observational Wire Sculpture

This wire sculpture was based on a flip chain, a sort of toy or fidget. When I first started off I had planned on using something like a book or water bottle as a model, but they were both overused and pretty simple. I also like the idea of something that could move because there are endless possibilities with wire. I also liked that it was a small thing so I could blow it up and create the same thing but bigger with more detail.

To begin, I examined the flip chain and moved it around a lot to see how it work, the different parts of it, and all the components I would need to incorporate into it to be most accurate. Once I knew what I would need to do with the wire, I began cutting the pieces to be relatively the right size. I continued looking back to the model and had it right in front of me to refer to. The first step was the rings that are connected to each other. Then once I had that I had to do some bending and maneuvering to make sure that it flipped and turned smoothly and correctly. After I had it moving well with the attached pieces within the circles I added the last details and made sure one last time that it looked and worked exactly the same as the actual flip chain. I used wire for the entire piece and to shape, bend, and cut the wire I used both two different types of pliers.

I liked using wire and I liked how much freedom and creativity was allowed during this project. One nice thing about wire is that if you mess up or bend something the wrong way you can always undo it and change it back, and you can also get more wire whenever needed. It was frustrating at times with the smaller parts and trying the fishhook attachments to always be tight, but it was always doable. At the end I like the way this wire sculpture turned out, it's and accurate portrayal of what I was creating and it works well.