Chicken Wire Projects
Before you throw out your old chicken wire, consider using it to build a masterpiece. Chicken wire, also known as poultry netting, can be used to build armatures, statues and unique household items. Chicken wire is lightweight, easy to shape and strong enough to hold its shape under extra weight. All you need is a pair of wire cutters and some poultry netting. If you have no chicken wire, check out a farm or animal feed store.
Armatures
Chicken wire is easy to shape using your hands or a pair of pliers and strong enough to hold art media such as papier mache, clay and copper. Chicken wire should first be molded into the basic shape and then covered by the art medium of your choice. Due to its small interconnecting wires, chicken wire is very lightweight and will not hinder papier mache sculptures. Chicken wire also does not melt, making it a safe tool to use when firing ceramic sculptures.
Sculptures
Armatures can be enhanced to produce an appealing sculpture. Beginners may prefer to make a tree sculpture by molding the chicken wire into a tube and separating the top wires to produce tree branches. Additional wire can be added to help give more detail to the sculpture. More advanced sculptures include human faces, animals and vehicles. These projects require more wire, time and a serious amount of time and attention to detail.
Household Items
Use extra chicken wire to make useful and decorative items around your house. Shape several layers of chicken wire into an open box to create a unique magazine rack. Or nail one layer of chicken wire to the inside of an empty picture frame to make a bulletin board. Mold chicken wire into an open cylinder to make a pencil and pen holder and add clips with small pictures to the outside.
Home Improvement
Chicken wire can come in handy when improving your home and yard. Use it to build waste baskets by making an open-ended cylinder with several layers around the outside to keep trash from falling out. The waste baskets can be transformed into burn baskets for leaves and sticks. Chicken wire can also be molded into decorative arches for vines and flowers or nailed to two posts to make a trellis for climbing flowers.
