I made this wire sculpture quite a few years ago. It was inspired by one of Heinrich Kley ink drawings. I loved the action in his sketch, and wondered if could get this sense of motion onto a sculpture. I also wanted to try and have it free standing, despite the out of balance poses. It turned out to be a fun challenge.
Once I find the time I would like to do a Madame Mim in wire to go with this Merlin:
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/05/merlin-in-wire.html
By the way I mostly use thin steel wire, which costs almost nothing at places like Home Depot.
I bend the wire with my fingers, no other tools, except for tightening the knots with pliers at the end to stabilize the sculpture.