I use 14 gauge copper wire (bought from an electrical supply store) for the models (smaller pieces) and I solder the pieces together with rosin-core solder I buy from Radio Shack. When finished I paint the pieces with black Rust-oleum. The copper wire isn’t really very strong. It’s intended for grounding electrical fixtures and its very soft. I like it because you can bend it many more times before it breaks. Brass wire would be stronger (depending on how much Tin is in it), but you can’t bend it a lot.

The drawings I trace with the wire are generally finalized on a computer using Adobe Photoshop. I use the pen tool to make paths and move them around until I like what I have. Then I export the paths to Adobe Illustrator and print the illustration to the size I want. That size is usually 11X17 inches (two 8-1/2X11 sheet that I tape together) for the models and 4 by 5 inches for the larger pieces (I project them on to plywood with an opaque projector and trace the image with a marker). I could start and finish my drawing using Illustrator software, but I have found the drawing tool hard to work with in illustrator. Photoshop is not as precise and that allows you to play with the image a lot more before you determine that it’s finished. Also Photoshop allows me to trace photos and drawings to use as a starting point. When I think of an image that interests me I can draw it quickly on a piece of paper, then scan the drawing with a scanner and manipulate it with Photoshop for hours until it’s exactly what I want.

 

I didn’t always use a computer. When I first started making drawings for sculptures, I used a drafting pen on tracing paper. I’d make a shape, then change it by tracing it a little differently on another piece of tracing paper. If I wanted to remove a line, I cut away the tracing paper that held the line with an Exacto knife. To add two partial drawings together, I used a stapler. If things got to messy, I traced the image over again. I still essentially do the same thing, today, but the computer makes it much easier.

 

For me, making wire sculptures is like drawing in space with a flashlight – only the light stays long after the flashlight is gone. I like that, too, because I can go back to the drawing and make changes to it or eliminate parts of it with pliers.