This artist has achieved a real ‘coop’ – he’s found a way to turn chicken wire into money.

Derek Kinzett has made spectacular life-size sculptures of figures including a cyclist, gardener and fairy from the galvanized wire.

The 45-year-old spends at least 100 hours making each model, which sell for around £6,000 apiece.

His fans even include Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage, who bought one for his home near Glastonbury, Wiltshire.

Derek, from Dilton Marsh, near Bath, Wiltshire, twists and cuts 160ft of wire to create incredibly detailed replicas of people and creatures from the world of fantasy.

His models of people, which stand around 6ft tall and take a month to make, even include eyes, hair and lips.

He spends so long twisting and cutting the tough wire that his hands are covered in calluses.

But he refuses to wear gloves because he believes they impair his sense of touch and impact on the quality of the finished piece.

Derek first sketches the designs or uses his computer to convert photographs into line drawings.

He then uses these as a guide as he cuts moulds from blocks of expanding foam with a carving knife.

Derek wraps the wire around the mould, typically layering it up five times to add strength, before removing the mould to create a see-through sculpture.

They are sprayed with zinc to stop them rusting and then with an acrylic aluminium spray to restore the original wire colour.

The individual pieces are tied together and personally installed by Derek in homes and gardens across the country.

He said: ‘Most artists make a metal frame and then cover it in wax, bronze or stone from which they carve their final piece.

‘However, when I was at art school, my wire armatures had such detail I didn’t want to cover them.

‘I developed my work, making them larger and adding even more detail until I got to where I am today.

‘When people see sculptures, they often walk straight past but with mine they double take and return to have a closer look.

‘You can see their brain is trying to work out how I made it.

‘They seem amazed by the way you can look straight through my sculptures to see the landscape behind.’