Wire Letter Tutorial

 I was originally inspired by something similar I saw on Etsy for a wedding cake topper for my wedding this past April.  I believe it cost around $35.00 plus shipping.  I was a bride on a budget, so I cut costs wherever I could and this is a perfect example of what you can create yourself.  My version cost just a few bucks to make.  You can make these too!

Here is another example that I made for a baby shower decoration.  I thought it was something that could also be hung in the nursery as well later on.

How to create the letters:
I used this website for font inspirations:

http://www.1001freefonts.com/

They have just about every letter type you can think of.  You can use this as a visual guide and try to copy the font as closely as possible, which is what I did.  This may seem intimidating, but this is why we are using flexible wire, you can adjust it over and over.  Just keep playing with it.  You can also print each letter in the size you want and use the printed version as a guide

Supply List:
-Aluminum Craft Wire- 18 Gauge.  You want to wire to be sturdy enough to hold a shape, but also be thin enough to be manipulated into letters.
-If you want to create a look like my wedding cake topper, you will also need a thinner aluminum wire that's more flexible to thread the beading and coil around the 18 gauge letter.  I used 22 gauge for that.  Keep in mind that the higher the gauge, the thinner the wire.  The thinner the wire, the more flexible it is.

For the wedding cake topper, first complete the shape of the letter in the thicker wire.  Then use the thinner wire to string various size beads all around the letter.  I strung one bead for each coil, alternative the different sized beads.

To secure the letter on top of the cake, create a stake on each corner of the letter that will be inserted into the cake.











For the baby shower letters look, you can skip the coiling and beading all together.  Create your letters with the 18 gauge wire and  simply wrap knitting yarn all the way around each letter.

 I secured the yarn at the beginning and end of each letter by simply bending the wire over itself tightly about 1/2 inch as seen in the picture below.  You can adjust the yarn later to cover any snowing wire.










Suspend each letter from the ceiling or the wall with coordinating ribbon.  There are endless possibilities for letter styles and looks.

XOXO,
Nicole