DIY Metal Wire Chair

Determine the style of chair that you want to make by either borrowing an existing design or drawing up your own.

Measure either 16- or 18-gauge wire to be cut to meet the dimension requirements of your chair. A suitable size for an Eames-style chair would be a chair that is about 20 inches wide, 22 inches deep and 33 inches high in the back.

Cut the wire to be used for the frame of the seat and seat back for your chair, using a pair of wire snips.

Bend the wire carefully in one direction until it conforms to the desired shape for your chair style. Avoid bending the wire back the other direction so that you don't weaken and break the metal.

Solder the ends of wire frame together using a soldering gun and soldering wire. Whether the shape of your seat and seat back is square or rounded, your soldering job needs to be done well so that the rest of the chair holds together.

Cut the wire for the middle and back of your seat, using metal snips. The wires should be a length that is twice the width or depth dimensions of the chair.

Solder one end of the wire to the metal seat or seat back frame and then loop the wire around the other end of the frame and back to the point where you soldered the other end of the wire. Solder the other end of the wire to the frame also. Repeat this process several times, placing the subsequent wires about 1 inch from the previous wire.

Weave additional pieces of metal from front to back on the seat, or from top to bottom on the back of the chair. Weave these pieces between the first set that you used to get the chair started. You should have a mesh of criss-crossed wires that form the seat and the back. Solder each piece in place as you go.

Solder the seat and the back of the chair together.

Create the base for your chair. You can do this using wire if you wish, but you can also get creative and innovative in your approach. For instance, you can solder the chair seat to the top one of those old metal milk cans and make it look more like a barstool. You can also use a non-metal base of some type, although you may also have to get creative about how you attach the chair.