Spring Sculptures
The Set Up
Gather florist wire, pipe cleaners, beads, ribbons, and a scattering of paper flowers. Add sticks or bits of bark for anchoring, and place mirrors nearby for children to catch glimpses of their creations taking shape. At Smudge we also love using thrifted vases and jars! Fill them with these wire blossoms and suddenly the sculptures feel like wild bouquets ready for a celebration. Goggles are optional but make everything feel wonderfully important and official.
The Making
Start twisting and bending. Some wires shoot tall and straight like stems, others spiral and wobble their way upward. Pipe cleaners curl into soft shapes and bursts of colour. A bead becomes the centre of a bloom, a ribbon winds into petals, and before long a tangle of lines has transformed into a garden that feels alive. No two sculptures are ever the same and some stand proud and balanced, others lean, stretch, and tilt in surprising directions. Together they look like spring itself, full of energy and reaching for the light.
Variations
Work together to build a giant collaborative garden across the table. Use the finished sculptures as a seasonal centrepiece, or keep returning to them and re bending the wires until the garden takes on a whole new form. The joy is that nothing is fixed, it can all keep changing over and over again.
Materials
Florist wire or pipe cleaners
Beads, ribbons, fabric scraps
Paper flowers or petals (optional)
Wooden bases, sticks, bark, or thrifted jars and vases
Goggles