Make Your Own Wire Picture Hanging System For Display Panels

I've actually been trying to figure out how to do this for a long time. The problem was, I didn't know the names of all the little pieces I needed, and it didn't quite work to walk into the local hardware store and say "Um... I'm looking for a little piece of metal that's bent like this and this and has a hole in one end."  But my husband and I just haven't had the funds yet to fork out the $12 or $17 each or whatever it is to buy these wire thingies. With another Christmas show coming up, I started trying to figure it out again. I found some helpful leads on Lori McNee's blog but still spent most of the night hunting for the correct terms for the parts and pieces so I could order them. Here's what I found:

The shipping was free on all of the ebay items. These are enough supplies to make 10 Hanging Wires with grips for 2 paintings on each wire, or 5 Hanging Wires with grips for 4 paintings on each one. With the latter option, you'll have extra wire rope (or "crimp" sleeves and "S" hooks. Either way, you'll also end up with extra wire rope.

Here's how I did it:

1.  Cut the wire rope into 6' or 7' lengths with wire cutters.

2.  Slide a sleeve onto one end, being careful not to fray the wire, if the wire starts to look frayed,   twist it in a clockwise direction and try again. loop the end of the wire around and thread it back into the sleeve again from the other side, and press it down with pliers. Pliers will hold it temporarily, but don't forget step #7.

3. Place the loop you've just made over one end of an "s" hook and use pliers to bend that end of the hook closed.

4. Slide a terminal lug (connector/conductor) onto the other end, the bottom end of the wire with the hole last- toward the bottom. Put as many of these as you want on the wire depending on how many rows of pictures you intend to display in your space.

5. Repeat Step #2 at the bottom end of the wire.

6. Attach carabiners to the terminal lugs.

7. Hit the Crimp sleeves a couple of times with a hammer to secure them. If you don't do this, you're risking having your paintings come crashing down. This step is NOT optional! If the loops are secured tightly, your hanging wire will hold up to 480 lbs. of weight. Not bad!

8. Tighten the screws in the terminal lugs to keep them from jiggling loose and losing them in transportation or setup.

I found out quickly that these get tangled up really fast, so here's a handy solution: lay a few  pieces of plastic wrap down on a flat surface in a row. Then lay the wires all side by side across the plastic (so the "s"hooks are all on a piece, and the middle of all the wires are on another piece, and the end loops of all the wires are on a piece). Then put a strip of packaging tape across  the wires in those places to tape them to the plastic wrap. Now you can coil them up without them getting tangled. Congrats! Now you're ready for your next show, and you didn't pre-spend all of your profits!
One correction on this picture- the "airplane cord" is actually called "aircraft cable." Good luck!