SPOTLIGHT ON ... DESIGNER
December 2008

Our featured designer for this month is Jerri Peterson

Artistic Wire Reindeer By Jerri Peterson

Jerri Peterson lives in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Roswell. A computer programmer by trade, she makes annual reindeer ornaments for friends and family as her way of spreading Christmas cheer. Every year a different reindeer is made. This reindeer focuses on the Soft Flex Wire product, Artistic Wire using a combination of wire, beads and a lot of love and time to put them together.

Finished reindeer is 2 inches tall and 2 1/2 inches long. These little guys are very durable and fun to make.

Steps to make the Soft Flex, Artistic Wire Reindeer:

Tools needed:

• Small wire cutters
• Needle nose pliers
• Small child's paintbrush or very small dowel rod

Supplies:

Reindeer part	Qty	Supplies
Inner Body, Tail & Neck and Head	1	5" 18gauge Bare copper Artistic Wire
Antlers/inside rear legs and neck	2	11“ 22gauge Bare copper Artistic Wire
Inside of legs	2	7” 22gauge Bare copper Artistic Wire
Outside of Legs	4	20” 24gauge Brown Artistic Wire coiled
Outside of Neck	1	18” 24gauge Brown Artistic Wire coiled
Bead for body	1	15mm wooden tube bead
Bead for head	1	18 x 11mm football sports bead
Beads for hoof	4	6x9mm dark brown pony beads
Bead for snout	1	6x9mm white cylindrical pony bead
Bead for nose	1	6mm ruby faceted bead
Large ornament hanger	1	Optional

Instructions:

• Prepare the legs and neck.
• Using a child’s small paintbrush or the equivalent size dowel rod wrap the 20” length 24g Brown Artistic wire around the rod without overlapping the wire creating a coil. Each coil will be the reindeers ‘outer leg’. Make 4 of these, 1 for each leg.
• Use the same method to create a coil forming the neck with the 18” length of 24g Brown Artistic wire.
• Set aside to be used later
  
  
• Insert 5" length of 18g Bare Copper Artistic wire for tail, inner body, neck and head through the 15mm wooden tube bead that becomes the body.
  
  
• Bend one end of the wire 3/4" from the end making a loop for the tail. The end of the wire should later feed back into the wooden tube bead. The other end of the wire should also be bent upward to form the neck and later attach the head.
  
  
• Gather wires for 2 antlers (11" 22g Bare Copper) and 2 inner legs (7" 22g Bare copper). Insert through the wooden tube body bead along with the 5" body wire (bead needs to be big enough for all 5 pieces of wire to fit through).
  
  
• Pull the 5" body wire through the wooden tube bead until the end of the bent potion of tail is slightly inside the wooden tube bead. Both ends of wire should be bent up at the same angle forming the tail, inner neck and head
  
  
• Gather wires for antlers (2 - 11" 22g Bare copper wires) and inner legs (2 - 7" 22g Bare Copper wires) to form the 4 legs, neck and antlers. Insert through the wooden tube body bead along with the 5" body wire (bead needs to be big enough for all 5 pieces of wire to fit through). Pull the wires through leaving approximately 3" of inner leg wire at each end of bead. The 4 wires at the tail end should all be even and bent downward.
  
  
• The opposite end of the wooden tube bead should have the remaining 3" of 2 wires bent downward forming 2 front legs and the remaining length of the 2 antlers and neck bent upward.
  
  
  
  
• Take one of the 24g Brown Artistic wire coils previously prepared and insert 2 of the leg wires at the tail end through (1 leg wire and one antler wire). Add a brown pony bead for the hoof, using needle nose pliers loop the 2 wires back through the hole and pull through snugly to secure the coil wire creating the rear leg. Trim the ends with the wire cutters.
  
  
• Repeat for other rear leg. Take care to make the coiled wire legs the same length or adjust the coiled wire slightly by trimming some of the wire or gently pulling to make the coil longer.
  
  
• Repeat the process to create the front legs using only a single wire per leg, the remaining wires for the antlers should be bent upward. Again, take care to make the coiled wire front legs the same length as the rear legs.
  
  
• Slide the 18" outer neck coil over the 2-22g antler wires and 18g neck wire.
  
  
• Bend the remaining length of the neck forward and the antler wires up.
  
  
• Slide the 18mm x 11mm football bead, the 6x9mm white cylindrical pony bead and the 6mm ruby bead on the 18g neck wire to form the head, snout and red nose. Use needle nose pliers to bend the wire down under the red bead and trim with wire cutters.
  
  
  
  
• Using the same method to create the coiled legs and neck, take the small child's paintbrush and coil the remaining wire for the 2 antlers.
  
  
• OPTIONAL - If used as a hanging ornament, a large wire ornament hanger can be bent between the front legs and the wooden tube bead.

Other Christmas projects Jerri has made include reindeer made of clay pots with walnut head, wine corks with screws for legs, jingle bells, wedding bells, pompoms, clothes pins and lots of other things. Typically her ideas come from another craft project she has seen and puts her own twist on it or just something she thinks will make a cute reindeer.



Jerri has been married 26 years, has 3 sons and 2 grandchildren, loves to travel and is an avid Kansas City Chief's fan. This year she expects to make about 125 of her reindeer.

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Jerri Peterson You can contact Jerri at jerri.peterson@ihg.com