In the Market: "Funky metal trees"

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By Gareth Branwyn
Posted 2010/02/24 @ 7:41 pm
Category Craft, General

I love watching Makers Market filling up each day with amazing new work, with offerings that run the gamut from inexpensive geeky gadgetry to one of a kind pieces of art. One of the discoveries I’ve recently gone gaga over is the wire and wood tree sculptures by Kevin, dba “kaitrees.”

As he explains in the above video, the wires he uses to sculpt the trees are continuous, from root to branches and leaves. The wires in the 21″ sculpture above started out at six feet in length! Kevin humbly describes his creations as “funky metal trees.” Some of them take over a hundred hours to complete. The above piece he estimates at about 160 hours.

Makers Market: Kaitrees

BY Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelancer writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture, including the first book about the web (Mosaic Quick Tour) and the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots. He is currently working on a best-of collection of his writing, called Borg Like Me.

In the Maker Shed

9 Responses to In the Market: "Funky metal trees"

Shawn Connally on February 24th, 2010 at 8:08 pm said:

The stuff I’ve seen is just amazing. What a bunch of great makers!

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Gareth Branwyn on February 24th, 2010 at 8:18 pm said:

I just can’t fathom the amount of patience and dedication it would require to twist hundreds of 6′ wires together to make a piece like this.

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- Nate on February 25th, 2010 at 6:32 am said:
  
  Agreed, Gareth.
  
  I have a hard enough time staying focused on crocheting a small stuffed animal, let alone something like this. Amazing!
  
  Plus, I would have thought the individual wires would be longer than 6 feet. (couldn’t watch the vid @ work; does he introduce new wires in the middle?)
  
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  kaitrees on February 25th, 2010 at 3:28 pm said:
  
  There are a few strands that do not run from root to leaves on the very bottom of the tree as I thought I needed some extra, thin roots at the very bottom.
  
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Alan on February 25th, 2010 at 9:17 am said:

I’ve seen scale trees made this way by model railroaders, but they don’t carry the technique to such spectacular extremes. This is really amazing work.

What wire gauge is that, about 5/0?

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- kaitrees on February 25th, 2010 at 3:19 pm said:
  
  Hello Alan for this tree I used 17 gauge 1.4mm wire.
  I also use larger and smaller for other trees.
  
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Goli Mohammadi on February 25th, 2010 at 10:25 am said:

Insanely gorgeous and cool!!! I’m so glad he posted the video. I had no idea that’s how they are made.

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Alan Parekh on February 25th, 2010 at 10:35 am said:

Talk about making something from nothing! What some people would just toss out sure makes for a very cool sculpture. Not cheap, but based on his hours he has invested into it I can see the value.

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toy4x4 on February 27th, 2010 at 11:29 pm said:

Amazing! The is nothing else to say. Amazing. If I only had $5k.

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