Fold Forming with Copper: earrings, bracelet or necklace
Steps, Tools & Criteria: |
- Make a "loose plan" for this project. Allow for chance and unexpected effects :)
- Choose a format: Earrings (2 the same, relatively small), Necklace Pendent, or Bracelet (cuff or segments linked with jump rings).
- Select a metal size appropriate for your format.
- Choose a finish: Liver of Sulfur Patina with sanding, Heat Treated, Green Patina (like the Statue of Liberty), or Gun Bluing.
- Anneal the metal using the gas/air torch (this step will be repeated several times throughout the project).
- Place it in the vice and use pliers and the leather mallet to fold the metal.
- Draw the shape of your choice (in sharpie) on the open edges of the metal.
- If your design has negative shapes you will cut these first. Use a center punch to dimple the metal then use the drill press to put a hole through the metal.
- Use a saw to cut out the desired shapes (negative shapes should but cut first, then cut the outer shapes).
- Use a cross peen, ball peen, texture hammers, and/or stamps to forge along the open edge and add texture to the metal (this will distort and curve the metal).
- Drill a hole through the metal where you plan to attach (earring findings, beads, or wire embellishments).
- Anneal the metal and use pliers to carefully open the metal.
- File and sand the edges to remove any sharp parts.
- Apply the patina evenly to the surface and buff/polish the edges for contrast.
Tools you will need:
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Finishing Touches:
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Forging (0-6min): The Complete Metalsmith with Tim McCraight
Forging Terms & Vocabulary-
- Forging- repeatedly striking the metal against as steel surface in order to stretch and expand or change the plane of the metal
- Annealing- heating the metal to excite the molecules (spreading them apart) making the metal soft and bendable.
- Work Hardened- repeatedly striking or bending the metal compresses the molecules and makes it brittle and hard.
- Anvil or Forging Plate- a hard steel surface for compressing and expanding the metal
- Cross Peen Hammer- a hammer that spreads the metal in only two directions
- Ball Peen Hammer- a hammer that spreads the metal in all directions simultaneously (like squishing a bug)
- Reductive Processes- any way of shaping the metal that removes material, such as filing, sanding, grinding, or sawing.