Wire Bird Table Decor

Hii friends...In this instructable I will explain how I made this wire bird with LED on its beak. It's an easy to make craft and doesn't require any power tools or special skills.You can change the design with one of your own.

Supplies

Aluminium or Copper wire(Atleast 0.2mm Diameter)

Cutting Player

LED strip(Any color)

Wood Piece(For stand)

Paint

Insulated copper wire

Tools

Soldering iron

Wood Drill(Not important)

Step 1: Selecting Suitable Design

First step to make this bird is to find a suitable bird drawing.My drawing skills are very poor so I googled some images I searched for single line drawings and there are plenty of design available.I choose this bird design because it was the simplest and easy to draw design.Its better to avoid drawings with sharp points and tight corners because it will be hard to make with thick wire.Complicated designs will be hard to make so choose a simple One as the first project.Once I decided the design I drew it on a paper.My drawing was about 30cm high and 20cm wide which is perfect for a table decor

Step 2: Wire Bird Model Making

Here iam using 2.5mm diameter aluminium wire.You can use any metal wire if it can hold the shape aluminium and copper wire works best because it's easy to bend into shape,it can hold the shape well and it won't break if bend into tight angles.I first made the bird using copper but it was not rigid enough to hold the model straight as soon as I fix it on the stand it starts to bow down because of its own weight.So I choose aluminium.It was 2.5mm thick.To get a rough length of total wire required first place your model drawing on a straight surface and use a thread. Place the thread along the lines of the picture all around and measure the length of the thread to this add 20cm more for the long stand(part below the tail) and a 10 cm more for any adjustments if needed.You can always cut the remaining lenth but you won't be able to attach a piece if you cut the wire too short. 130cm wire was needed for my model.Clean the aluminium wire using sand paper before making the model.Next Place the paper which we drew the model on a flat surface and start making the wire bird from the tail.One end of the wire is placed on the start position and start to bend the remaining wire according to the model.Aluminium and wire is easy to bend and doesn't require any tools like cutting players but for the tight corners I used cutting player to make it as tight as possible after bending the tight corner with hand use a cutting player to make it precise.I made some small adjustments like making the wing's a bit more bigger and adding a split to the tail.It took only 10 minutes to complete this step.Finaly starting end of the wire is tied to the ending part using thin copper wire.I tried to solder it on place but I couldn't solder the thicker aluminium wire properly.

Step 3: Stand Making

I actually wanted a wood bark as the stand but I couldn't find a suitable one so i choose this piece of wood.It is 18cm long and 12cm wide.First I removed the wood skin and sanded it lightly.I didn't wanted to make it very smooth,insted I needed all the imperfections as it is but the skin was too soft and deteriorating so I removed it. Slightly sanding with a 150grit paper removed all the soil and soft parts. After that I coated it with two layer of wood sanding sealer this will prevent any further deterioration.To fix the bird on the stand I drilled a small hole.The hole is at 45 degree angle and a small groove is made in the bottom as a continuation to the hole(see pictures) This will secure the model on place and a path to pass the power cable.

Step 4: Adding Lights

I used 5 volt led strip for the light.I didn't needed a long strip so I cut three small pieces from it.You cannot cut led strip from any place,there are soldering points on the strip and you can only cut it from there.Each small piece have three leds on them.I soldered two Wire to each piece sepperatly and soldered all positive Wire together to a point and negative wire to another point(see picture)After this all these LEDs are attached to a small pencil piece using a thread.I tried hot glue for this but the problem was when the LEDs are ON resistors on the strip start to get very hot and it will burn the hot Glu which will make a nasty plastic burning smell.So use a thread or superglue to secure the LEDs on place.Then this piece is put inside a transparent plastic tube.It was a tight fit so no other adhesive was used.The transparent tube was sanded to make it a little opaque and it also diffused the light evenly.To attach this to the bird I needed two Wires one positive and one negative.Since the aluminium bird structure is conductive I used it as the positive wire and attached the LEDs positive wire directly to the birds beak this way it look like the bird was carrying it on its beak.For the negative wire I used thin insulated copper wire you can get this from old mobile chargers or smps.Insulated wire is twisted around the aluminium wire to the beak the insulation is removed only from the end and soldered to the negative wire of the LED.Be carefull not to short the terminals because it can easily burn the thin copper wire.

Step 5: Fixing and Painting

To fix the bird to the stand first pass the negative wire and aluminium wire through the hole we drilled earlier and bend The aluminium as shown in the picture this way the structure will be very stable.For the power supply I used a old USB phone charger(5volt 2amp)it was more than enough for the LEDs.To attach the USB to the bird first cut the small end of the USB cable and you will see 4 wires out of this two are data cable and two are power cable normally a Red will be positive and Blue will be negative(mine was different color code but I used a volt meter to figure out the positive and negative) Solder the copper wire to the Blue (negative) and Red(positive) to the aluminium wire.Then the USB cable is placed inside the groove so that the stand won't wobble use super glu to secure it on place.Next and final step is painting my decision was to paint it black but my 4 year old niece forced me to use PINK! Insted.Try to use very little paint where the power wires are attached,if not soldered properly paint will insulate the connection hence the LEDs won't turn ON.Only a single coat of paint is required and let it dry for a day.

Step 6: DONE...

I placed and indoor plant on the stand and lights are turned ON.The green LEDs looks beautiful You can use any color if you use a white 1 or 3 watt small LED it will be enough for the plants to grow.It was a very easy project to make and if you're trying to make one find a new model from internet and have fun making it..