I don’t recall the original source of inspiration, but I got it in my head that I wanted to make an earring tree out of aluminum wire. The idea was for it to have ‘roots’ taking purchase in a ground of wood, then organically intertwine and build into a tree, with lots of spots for earrings to hang.

In my first attempt, I built the tree and then attempted to run the wires into the ground. It proved to be very frustrating and did not yield very convincing results. I was also unpleased by the flat structure:

For my subsequent attempts, I began with the wires glued into the base. I then made a ring out of wood that had one hole for each of the glued in wires in order to keep them organized as I twisted them up.

After twisting up the wires a bit, I would move four wires from their individual holes in the ring and place them in the center of the ring. This brings these strands to the interior of the tree and wraps the remaining ones around them. After another revolution, the wires can be pulled down from the middle of the to branch outwards from the tree. This arrangement prevents the branches from unwinding as they are bound up by the strands continuing to the upper levels.

Once all the strands are wound and all the rungs have been created, each of the branches can be tightly coiled around a tapered rod. The taper helps to ease the process of removing it after the wire has been coiled.

One downside to this design is that it does not travel well. I had made one instance with the intent of using it to display earrings I’d made at a craft show, but it’s very delicate.

And while the branches are strong enough to hold the earrings, a thicker wire would have been better. This used 18-gauge aluminum wire by OOK.

If I were to do this again, I would also make the holes in the base through holes and kink the wire at the end. Perhaps a hole just large enough for the wire to protrude through the top, and a larger hole on bottom that could receive the wire with a hook on the end.