Vine Potted Plant Holder
The first vine shaped plant hanger that I made was actually formed from an Indian blacksmith's toilet paper hanger; you know one of those "import" jobs. A friend of mine had purchased it and decided it didn't go well with the décor of her bathroom, but she really liked the vine motif and wanted to know if I could make a plant holder out of it. After taking a look at the amount of material available I heated it and bent it around until it was suitable for holding potted plants.

Having reverse engineered the beast I decided I could do a bit better, and so the current version was born.

For those of you familure with most smithing techniques you can jump to the end and follow the quick steps.
These are designed to hold a 4"-5" pot so the ID of the hoop is about 4.5". Since most pots have a lip at the rim even a 4" pot fits with out too much trouble. I start with 3' of 3/8" round stock.
Figure 1
Start by square pointing one end with a taper that extends back approximately 4"-5". Fig1. Drawing out and tapering square has a couple of advantages: it is faster, and you run less of a risk of slowly twisting the metal during the draw
Figure 2
Round the squared point by turning it until it has a diamond cross section. Fig2. Then flatten each peak until you have an octagon. Repeat the procedure with the octagon, and again until the edges have been rounded.
Figure 3
Heat just the tip and curl the end. Fig3 There are several ways to curl. I start with a quick tap over the horn or rounded edge on the anvil, and work it like a free scroll. If you have a sharp horn or mandrel, you can continue the curl right on around relying on the horn shape until you have a loop. This one can be hard since we want a small loop. And you don't actually want to pinch the piece between the horn and hammer because that mearly squeezes it. Lastly you use a pair of scrolling pliers and twist it in a loop however this you may end up with plier marks or flat spots (from bending too quickly).
Figure 4
Now on to the other end (the leaf end). Once again square taper and then round, but this time only about 2". Fig4.
Figure 5
Neck/shoulder the spot where the taper ends and becomes the full 3/16" dia. Fig5. You can do this quickly and easily by placing it on the edge of the anvil and giving it a good solid strike pinching the piece betweent then hammer and anvil edge. Rotate 90degrees and strike again. This usually does the trick, it will look off, but the idea is to give it a bit of an organic feel, and since most things in nature are not perfectly simetrical this works well.
Figure 6
Flatten the leaf. Fig6. Focus the hammer blows near the leaf neck and flare that portion the most. Then re-point the end on the horn and let a portion of the tip start to curl.
Figure 7
Coil twice around a 2 ¼"- 2 ½" diameter mandrel. I use a section of old steam pipe. This allows a good grip with channel locks or tongs in one hand while bending with the other hand. Start the coils about 5" from the leaf. The critical part here is the number of turns. The coil should have two bands when viewed from the "front" (stems toward the back) Fig 7, and three bands when viewed with the "stems" near.
Figure 8
Split the two bands apart and fold open. Fig8. Open the bands by driving a hot cut chisel between them, and twist it sideways. Continue spreading using the wide section of the horn, then hammer flush. Heat the open coils, place one end in a vise and pull. This makes them offset and gives them an irregular form. Cool the opened coils and heat a section of the "stem" near the curl.
Figure 9
Quick quench the curl and form to desired pot diameter. Fig9. By quickly quenching just the curl you have a hard knob to hammer on thereby pulling the vine around. This is especially helpful if you're forming on the horn or a cone mandrel. Another alternative would be to use a section of 4 ½" - 5" pipe or some other form where you can use grip with tongs or channel locks.
Figure 10
Grip the hoop in a vise and bend 90 degrees. Fig10
Figure 11
Hot punch two holes. Hot punching the holes gives the added advantage that it swells the metal around the hole, leaving plenty of material to mount with. Let it cool and vien the leaf. Since the metal that I use is A36 mild steel, it typically doesn?t have enough carbon to actually harden. However, I find that quenching above critical tempurature can really "toughen" it and make chiseling a real pain. Fig11.
That is the quick edition of the process. If I'm making special editions I take some extra time to make it more organic. Since most vines aren't smooth nor an even 3/16? over their length, I taper 2/3 of the rod all the way to the curl. And then I taper the other 1/3 to the neck of the leaf. This textures the entire vine and the complete taper gives it a more flowing and graceful appearance. I also re-heat the leaf; curl and bend the edges after its been viened.