Are you capable of looking at a wire clothes hanger without flashing back to that one particularly disturbing scene from Mommy Dearest?
Yeah, me neither.
I think we all share this same cultural trauma, because wire hangers are one of the most loathed aspects of our commercial society, and yet also, curiously, one of the most ubiquitous. Nobody wants to actually use wire hangers for their clothes (those bumps they put on the shoulders of your shirts!!!), and yet to just throw them away…ick.
Fortunately, wire coat hangers have one absolutely fabulous thing going for them. They’re made from wire! You can do so many wonderful things with wire! You can completely transform an awful wire hanger into something else, amazingly useful or amazingly beautiful, simply by remaking that wire.
Here are five projects to get you started:
I got really into making wreaths from natural and upcycled materials this holiday season, so I am all about this wire hanger and Christmas ornament wreath, courtesy of Eddie Ross. The wire hanger forms the infrastructure, which is the trickiest part of making your own wreath since it’s so tempting to buy those pre-made Styrofoam wreath forms- yuck!
To make this wreath into a festive decoration for a different holiday, or perhaps an all-season decoration for your front door, you could actually use any kind of bauble with a hole large enough to thread a wire hanger through–vintage jewelry pieces, paper mache ornaments, Life Savers, etc.
[The image on this page is the property of Eddie Ross.]
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Spring is coming, and this year my partner has formally requested that I not permit plants to grow up the side of the house, on account of we’d like to be able to sell it at some point, and that would be more difficult if all the siding has fallen off.
When you don’t want the siding to fall off of your house, then it’s best to use a lattice, and this wire hanger lattice, courtesy of Sally Goodin, does something that I have never seen another wire hanger project do before–it makes the wire hangers look nice!
[The image on this page is the property of Sally Goodin.]
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The neatest thing about this wire coat hanger magazine rack, tutorial courtesy of Artists Helping Children, is the fact that you don’t even need to cut the wire at all to make it.
Like wire hanger origami, all you have to do is simply bend and fold the wire hanger to form a surprisingly useful magazine rack. If you like to vend at craft fairs, you’ll be pleased to note that this rack also makes a fine easel to display multiple copies of mounted artwork or prints.
[The image on this page is the property of Artists Helping Children.]
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If you, too, live in a house with less than abundant natural light, then perhaps you, too, have discovered the grace and beauty that artificial flowers can bring to an otherwise dimly-lit room.
No, not those tacky dollar store plastic flowers- check out these gorgeous wire hanger and pantyhose flowers, upcycled by Craftster member iratokid.
Although most of the materials for this particular project were purchased by its creator, if you look at the supply list you’ll see that you can easily substitute just about everything for stuff that you have around the house.
[The image on this page is the property of Craftster member iratokid.]
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Okay, do not be mad at me, but I have to post this project. I have to! My grandmother used to make these yarn-covered wire coat hangers, for goodness’ sake. And I’ll tell you what- if I ever happened to wander my way into a church bazaar, and I found these yarn-covered hangers for sale there (and I would), I’d buy them all up in a heartbeat.
The beauty of these yarn-wrapped hangers is partly in their cheeziness, sure, but also? They work! The yarn pads the wire hangers just enough that you don’t get those bumps on your T-shirt shoulders, and I’m pretty sure that Mommy Dearest couldn’t have done nearly as much damage with these babies as with the unpadded version.
[The image on this page is the property of Craftbits.]
I do love the yarn covered hanger! My Aunt June taught me how to make them many years ago and we have an abundance of them… My daughter oohed and aahed over one two days ago when one made its way into the front hall closet and she is excited to make her very own special hanger… Seriously? I have to hunt down a couple of wire hangers on purpose now? UGH!
LOL you can do yarn covered plastic hangers, too!
I use wire hangers to make wings; just wrap the wire with scrap fabric and stretch pantyhose or tights over them. Then you can break out the fabric paint to decorate then if you like.
I JUST made wire hanger butterfly wings! I’d seen some that were made with millinery wire, but they just didn’t look very sturdy, so I tried out wire hangers–not too hard to work with, and VERY sturdy.
I get wire hangers now from one friend whose husband takes stuff to the dry cleaners. Are dry cleaners the only place left in the world that still hands out wire hangers? Possibly…
These are such great ideas: I especially love the vine trellis. I am currently working on a few upcycling projects of my own. It’s amazing how many cool things you can make by upcycling and as I have found, they make really great conversation pieces when visitors come over as well.
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I created from the lower torso down a man climbing in to a attic