Metalwork: Soldering and decorating the ring

i decide my half sphere would be a birds nest, so i used a piercing saw to cut out the shape of a swallow. i first cut out the basic outline, then cut the 'v' out of it's tail. i had to be very careful on corners to make sure i didn't turn the saw too suddenly, which would snap the blade.

 I then cut out a tree shape, using cut lines to show the branches.

 I soldered all the pieces together, first soldering the tree to the inside of the ring, so it came out sideways, and then I soldered the bird into the nest. The next bit was quite difficult, because i had to solder the nest onto the ring, without disturbing any of the joints i had already soldered. i used the bricks to hold the ring and the nest in the right position while i soldered them.

 I quenched the whole ring and pickled it in the acid to take the flux off. This is the finished ring. I hope to polish it some more so the surface is more even and shiny.

Metalwork: making a ring and a half sphere.

Our first project in metalwork was a ring, with a half sphere on top, and another ornament or decoration of some sort. the first step was to cut a brass strip to the right size using a piercing saw. I used my finger circumference, then added the thickness of the metal multiplied by pi to get the length I would need for the ring to fit me. I then bent this around so the ends met, to be soldered together later. I then started on my half sphere. I drew a circle using a compass, and cut it out using the piercing saw.

I filed the edges to make them not as sharp. Then i had to shape the circle into a half sphere, or bowl shape. i did this using a doming block and punches. I moved from the bigger dents to smaller ones, so it got more domed as i went, and it got smaller.

I then soldered the edges of my ring together, making sure they were lined up well and had plenty of flux so the solder would flow in the right place. I then cleaned it in the acid to get all the flux off.

To make the ring round, I used a mallet and a ring stake to gently shape it without spoiling the texture of the metal or distorting it in any way.

Metalwork: using resin.

 Inspired by Clare Collinson's silver and resin jewellery, I decided to try using resin in my own jewellery. I first made three copper hoops in different sizes, and used silver solder to solder them to a base piece. I found it difficult at first to get the solder to go all the way around the hoops, as the hoops were heating up a lot faster than the base piece. I then used some wire to make a zig zag shape the piece could sit on, to let heat underneath the base piece, and heat it more evenly. once the soldering was done, I carefully cut pieces of paper to fit in the hoops. these were photocopies of a feather and a butterfly's wing, and I chose each piece carefully to show pieces of interesting pattern.

 I then mixed the resin and filled each of the hoops half full with resin. I left this to harden overnight. I then carefully cut pieces of real feather and butterfly wing into strips, to try to make a zebra pattern from them. I arranged these pieces on top of the set resin, then mixed some more resin and poured it on top. when I was pouring it, I first dripped a bit on each piece, so it would stay where I wanted it when I put the rest of the resin in.

After the last layer of resin had hardened, I noticed some of it had leaked, or possibly overflowed, and had stuck the piece to the paper towel it was resting on. I quite like the effect it has given, because now there is a raised pattern, instead of a plain copper back.

Metalwork: Making a brooch.

I wanted to make my piece of patterned copper 'wall' into a brooch, without just shoving a pin on it. I decided I wanted most of the pattern to be on the inside, so only the wearer knew it was there, and to keep the outside fairly minimal. I thought of what would be on a wall, like railings, and because the pattern was similar to patterns of paving slabs I have looked at, I also looked at what would be on floors, like footprints. I decided finally on drainpipes, because that would be a decorative way of attaching it to something, because a pin or a few pins could go into the pipes to hold it on. I also went out and did some observational sketches of how pipes fitted together, and how they were attached to the wall, to get ideas of how I could arrange the pipes on my brooch.

I decided to have one straight piece of pipe, and one bent, so I could have one long pin that would go all the way through the pipe, and not fall out. I soldered a bent piece of wire to the straight piece of pipe (it is solid wire not pipe because it doesn't need to hold the pin, and wire is easier to bend without miss-shaping it) and then made small loops from thinner wire, and used lead solder to join them on without melting the previous soldering.

 After polishing it in the tumbler, I super glued the brass pieces on so they would stay still while I was drilling, and centre punched each side of each brass piece so I knew where to drill.

I drilled the holes, then neatened them and made them a little bit bigger so the rivets would go through.

 The rivets are decorative on the other side, so it will still look nice when worn so that the main pattern is hidden.

I wanted the pin to go through the pipe, and hold on to the garment at both the top and bottom, so it would hold on securely.

 I used a piece of wire, and melted the end so there was a small blob, which would stop it going through the fabric. I also curved the wire slightly, so the tension would keep it held in the right place.

Metalwork: Ring Making

 I decided to use copper for my ring, because I like the pinky-gold colour. First, to make the basic ring shape, I used wire to bend around my finger, then straightened it out and cut a strip of copper the same length. I used two pairs of ring pliers (which have one curved part and one flat part) to bend the strip round so that the ends met. The most important thing was to get the ends exactly in line and flat, so they can be soldered, rather than getting the ring perfectly round, as it can be shaped later.


I used silver solder to join the ends. I heated the ring a bit, then painted on some flux on the join. this is to clean the metal, and ensure the solder sticks, and because I heated the ring a bit first, the water evaporated as the flux touched the ring, so it wouldn't drip off. I then heated the ring again, this time to get it red-hot, and when it was hot enough I touched the solder to the end of the join, and it flowed through to the other end. Because of the extreme heat, the copper had built up a layer of oxide on the surface, so I pickled it in acid for a few minutes to remove it.



I used a file to remove the excess solder, and to smooth the surface of the ring. I used a mallet to shape the ring on a ring stake, which both made it circular, and slightly bigger. I filed the surface of the ring, inside and outside, then used wet and dry paper to smooth out the file marks, this left the ring with a satin finish.

I then used the buffing and polishing machine to make the ring shiny, but found that after this, there were still marks visible, so I used some more wet and dry paper to try to remove these before repeating the buffing and polishing.

This gave a smooth shiny finish to the ring. I think ring making is one of the most important processes in metalwork, because it is so versatile and can be used for rings, bangles, stone setting, chains and attaching small items together.