Until now, we have worked in the two-dimensional realm of making metal jewelry. This section covers some of the techniques used to create volume and more complex shapes in jewelry designs. Metal is surprisingly fluid. With the use of special shaping tools and methods, a flat sheet of metal can be domed, curved, tapered, flattened, and manipulated into almost any shape you can imagine, opening up a world of possibilities for jewelry makers. As you practice the techniques presented in this section and experiment with the unique tools used for each, you will begin to appreciate the malleable nature of metal.
Dapping is the technique used to form domed components. Beads are just one example of the things that can be done using the dapping technique.
As with all techniques, this one requires special tools. You will need a dapping block, dapping punches, and a brass hammer or weighted mallet. A dapping block is a square or rectangular block made of steel or hardwood that has multiple concave, round depressions in various sizes. Dapping punches are steel or wood punches with a ball shape on the end that matches the depressions in the dapping block. Another tool that is nice to have, but is not necessarily required, is a disc cutter.
Tools
• torch and striker
• pickle pot with pickle mixed and warmed properly and a neutralizing soda bath
• fiber soldering pad or annealing pan with pumice media
• saw and 5/0 saw blade
• dapping block
• dapping punches
• disc cutter (optional)
• brass hammer or weighted mallet
Materials
• 22-gauge (.0643 mm) copper sheet
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
• Ensure proper ventilation.
• Know where your hands are at all times.
• Make sure the area is clear of any flammables.
• Secure long hair and no loose clothing.
• Remove distractions and be mentally present.
• Never light a torch with a cigarette lighter.
• Work on a nonflammable surface.
• Wear eye protection.
• Wear ear protection.
• Wear flame-resistant clothing and closed-toe shoes.
1 Using a disc cutter or a saw and 5/0 saw blade, cut a 1" (2.5 cm) round disk of the copper sheet.
3 Once the piece is brought to annealing temperature, turn off the torch and quench the piece in clean water.
4 Using copper tongs, place the piece in warm pickle for 5 minutes.
5 Remove the piece from the pickle with copper tongs and neutralize the pickle by dipping in the baking soda bath. Rinse the piece in clean water and dry thoroughly.
6 To begin forming, start with one of the larger depressions in the dapping block; this will allow the shape to be formed without distortion to the piece by slowly developing the dome.
7 Select a dapping punch that will set fully into the depression; it should not touch the sides of the block.
8 Hold the punch straight up and down, and with a brass hammer or weighted mallet, strike the punch. You do not need to wind up and hit it; the annealed copper is soft and will form easily—just the weight of the hammer striking the punch will form the piece.
9 Tilt the punch to the right, left, forward, and backward, striking with the hammer or mallet at each position; this will form the dome evenly. Make sure the disc stays in the bottom of the depression. It can move up the sides where an edge would get pinched and distort the dome.
10 Remove and inspect the piece. It should have smooth, gentle curves and the dome shape should seem even in all directions.
11 Select a smaller depression and a smaller punch and repeat steps 8–10.
12 Continue repeating steps 8–11 until you have formed the dome to the desired size and shape. Two of the same sized domes can be soldered together to form a bead (d).
This technique of dapping will allow you to make domes of shapes other than round.
It also comes with another safety precaution that has not yet been mentioned. This technique requires you to use wood-carving tools to form your dapping block. Wood-carving chisels, gouges, and knives, especially when they are first bought, are extremely sharp. Always carve away from yourself and know where your hands and fingers are at all times.
Tools
• torch and striker
• pickle pot with pickle mixed and warmed properly and a neutralizing soda bath
• fiber soldering pad or annealing pan with pumice media
• saw and 5/0 saw blade
• dapping punches
• brass hammer or weighted mallet
• planishing hammer
• wood-carving tools
Materials
• 22-gauge (.025") (.0643 mm) copper sheet
• block of basswood
• rubber cement
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
• Ensure proper ventilation.
• Know where your hands are at all times.
• Make sure the area is clear of any flammables.
• Secure long hair and no loose clothing.
• Remove distractions and be mentally present.
• Never light a torch with a cigarette lighter.
• Work on a nonflammable surface.
• Wear eye protection.
• Wear ear protection.
• Wear flame-resistant clothing and closed-toe shoes.
1 Draw a teardrop shape on tracing paper and adhere it to a copper sheet using rubber cement. Let the cement dry for 15 minutes; then cut the shape out using a jeweler’s saw.
2 Using a pencil, trace the cutout shape on a block of basswood.
3 Select a gouge with a fairly shallow radius and begin carving out the shape. Basswood is a soft wood and can be carved by hand; you do not need a hammer or mallet. Carve a shallow, smooth depression, deeper in the middle than on the sides.
4 Remove the tracing paper and rubber cement from the piece. Place the copper shape in an annealing pan or on a fiber soldering board and anneal it.
5 Turn the torch off and, using copper tongs, quench the piece in clean water.
7 Retrieve the copper piece from the pickle pot and neutralize the pickle in the baking soda bath, rinse clean, and dry thoroughly.
8 Set the copper shape into the depression carved in the basswood and push down on the piece to start the depression.
9 Select a dapping punch that is smaller that the largest part of the design; then, using a hammer or mallet, begin sinking the design into the carved depression. Start in the center and work out to the sides.
10 Use a progressively smaller punch until the entire design has been sunk.
11 Inspect the piece; it should have an overall domed shape that is not twisted.
12 Anneal the piece, quench, pickle for 5 minutes, neutralize the pickle in a baking soda bath, rinse with clean water, and dry thoroughly.
13 Choose a dapping punch that is small enough to fit inside the largest part of the piece and secure it into a vise. Using a planishing hammer, begin to smooth the surface of the dome (page 104). Do not hit hard; soft blows are all you need. Hold the hammer loosely and just let the hammerhead drop on the piece. As with everything in metalsmithing, if you are working harder than the tool you are using, you are doing something wrong. Hitting hard will compress the metal and cause it to stretch; this will eventually distort the shape. Continue planishing the piece, using smaller punches to reach all areas until the surface is uniform and the shape is refined.
During any forming technique, if the metal becomes work hardened to the point that it resists the tool, it should be annealed before proceeding any further.
Forging usually invokes visions of a blacksmith, with soot on his face and sweat dripping from his brow, working feverishly over an anvil, forming shapes from red-hot metal that was just pulled from the fire. That type of forging is called hot forging and is used to form shapes from ferrous metals. The process used most in making metal jewelry is cold forging. The tools are the same—an anvil and a hammer—and the technique is the same, but you work the metal cold after it has been annealed. This is the way jewelry was formed for a century by all makers and, for some, is still the preferred method. Although there are other ways to achieve similar results, such as lost wax casting, you cannot completely replicate the feel and beauty of a hand-forged piece.
To understand forging, you need to know what happens when the hammer strikes the metal. The Hammer Textures chapter (page 70) introduced the goldsmith’s hammer, the embossing hammer, and the planishing hammer. These hammers represent the three basic hammer face types—flat-faced, ball-peen, and cross-peen—and each of these will move the metal differently.
The cross-peen is wedge shaped with a slightly rounded face. The energy produced by the hammer strike is concentrated in a small area, with the bulk of the power moving directly away from the hammer face and the rest of the energy moving away from each side of the cross-peen in equal amounts. The result is a reduction of thickness and an increase in length with little effect on the width of the piece.
The ball-peen is shaped like a ball. When this shape strikes the metal, the energy radiates in all directions, with the greatest amount moving directly away from the blow. The result is a reduction of thickness and an equal increase in width and length.
The flat-faced hammer can be round or square and has a flat face. The bulk of the energy produced with the strike of this hammer moves directly away from the face, with very little radiating in any other direction. The result is a greater decrease in the thickness of the metal than in any other dimension. This type of hammer face is used for general purposes: it removes hammer marks that were left after forming, like the flat face of the goldsmith’s hammer; or a finishing hammer; it squares up stock before and during the forging process like a planishing hammer.
Although planishing is normally the final step taken in finishing a piece, at times planishing needs to be performed while forming the piece as well, so here is were we will start.
As with all hammering operations, the hammer should be held loosely but securely and the hammerhead should be doing all the work. You do not need to muscle the hammer and strike with all your might. This will only lead to fatigue and possible injury and will not result in the outcome you desire.
Tools
• torch and striker
• pickle pot with pickle mixed and warmed properly and a neutralizing soda bath
• fiber soldering pad or annealing pan with pumice media
• anvil or steel bench block
• cross-peen hammer
• planishing hammer
• embossing hammer or ball-peen hammer
• red permanent marker
• black permanent marker
• blue permanent marker
Materials
• 6-gauge (.162") (4.12 mm) square copper rod
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
• Ensure proper ventilation.
• Know where your hands are at all times.
• Make sure the area is clear of any flammables.
• Secure long hair and no loose clothing.
• Remove distractions and be mentally present.
• Never light a torch with a cigarette lighter.
• Work on a nonflammable surface.
• Wear eye protection.
• Wear ear protection.
• Wear flame-resistant clothing and closed-toe shoes.
1 Cut a 2" (5.1 cm) length of the square copper rod.
2 Place the rod in an annealing pan or on a fiber soldering board and anneal.
3 Once the piece is brought to annealing temperature, turn off the torch and quench the piece in clean water.
4 Place the annealed rod in warm pickle for 5 minutes.
5 Neutralize the pickle in the baking soda bath, rinse clean, and dry thoroughly.
6 Place the annealed rod on an anvil and, using a cross-peen hammer, strike the metal squarely starting at one end and working to the other (a). Try to keep the hammer face and your blows perpendicular to the length of the metal and square (b).
7 Using the slightly rounded face of a planishing hammer, strike the metal a few times (a) and observe the result (b). You will notice that the hammer marks left behind from the cross-peen will start to disappear and you will be left with slightly rounded depressions. Continue working the piece (c) using overlapping blows until the cross-peen hammer marks are gone (d).
For planishing with the planishing hammer, use the slightly domed face of the hammer on flat surfaces and for the inside of curved surfaces. Use the flat face of the hammer to planish the outside of curved surfaces.
As rigid as metal seems, it is actually a very fluid medium. Once annealed, metal can be moved and shaped fairly easily with controlled blows of the hammer.
1 Cut a 4" (10.2 cm) length of the square copper rod and anneal it (steps 2–5, pages 104–105).
2 Place the rod on an anvil and, using a cross-peen, strike the rod with square, even blows, starting at the top and working down about 1" (2.5 cm).
3 Continue striking the metal, but tilt the hammer so the face of the hammer is striking the corner of the rod.
4 Continue striking the edge of the rod, working down the length about another 1" (2.5 cm) or so. You will notice that the rod is beginning to curve away from the hammer blows.
5 Level the hammer out so that you are striking the rod squarely and work it to the other end.
With practice, you can curve the rod easily, forming graceful undulations not only in its length but its thickness as well. This process should be done in an uninterrupted single course; to further curve the rod, start at the top and repeat.
In forging, the cross-peen hammer face is mainly used to lengthen the rod and wire. To familiarize yourself with this concept, try tapering a square rod. This requires working the rod equally on all four sides with controlled, square blows of the hammer.
1 Cut a 2" (5.1 cm) length of the copper rod and anneal it.
2 Using a black permanent marker, mark one side of the copper rod; mark the opposite side with a blue permanent marker. Use a red permanent marker to mark one of the unmarked sides. You should have one black side with the opposite side blue, and one red side with the opposite side unmarked. Also color a black band around the end of the rod. These marks will help you keep track of where you are and where you need to go in the process.
3 Place the rod on an anvil, blue side up, with the marked end pointing toward you. Hold the rod securely and, using a cross-peen, strike the rod squarely one time just above the marked end (a); keep all hammer strikes above this line (b).
4 Flip the opposite side (the black side) of the rod up and strike the rod squarely with the hammer one time (a) the same distance above the mark as the opposite side (the blue side) (b).
5 Flip the red side up and strike the rod once the same distance above the mark as when you struck the blue and black sides.
6 Flip the opposite side (the unmarked side) up, and strike the rod squarely one time the same distance above the end mark as you did with the other three sides.
At this point, the rod should have been struck one time the same distance above the end mark on all four sides; this is referred to as the first course of forging.
7 Begin the second course by placing the blue side up and striking the rod once slightly above your previous strike and then striking the rod once at your previous strike.
8 Flip the opposite side (the black side) up and strike this side twice as you did with the blue side.
9 Flip the red side up and repeat.
10 Flip the unmarked side up and repeat.
This is the second course of forging. Begin the third course, repeating the same steps as the first two courses and moving up the rod with each course. You should be able to complete about ten courses before you will need to anneal the rod again. When the metal starts to resist the hammer, anneal again. Do not stop in the middle of a course; finish the course before annealing the metal.
11 Planish the tapered copper rod, sand, and finish it to your liking.
You might find it helpful to planish the rod before annealing it; this will refine the shape and reduce the cleanup time once the forging is done. After the piece has been annealed, color the sides again and continue until you have worked the entire length of the rod.
The rounded face of a ball hammer forces the metal away from the blow in all directions and is particularly useful in forging to widen the metal.
1 Cut a 2" (5.1 cm) length of the square copper rod and anneal it (page 52).
2 Place the rod on the anvil and, using a ball-peen, start to strike the rod, working from the center out to the edges, with even overlapping blows (a). Work one side, then the other; this will keep the forging centered in the middle of the rod (b).
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines anticlastic as “having opposite curvatures at a given point; specif: curved convexly along a longitudinal plane section and concavely along the perpendicular section.” In other words, a shape that resembles a saddle or one of those potato chips that come in a tube.
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines synclastic as “curved toward the same side in all directions.” In other words, like a bowl or a dome.
You have already made a synclastic shape when you formed the dome and teardrop shapes in the Dapping chapter (page 90), but we have yet to make anything like an anticlastic form so there is where we will start.
YOU WILL NEED
Tools
• torch and striker
• pickle pot with pickle mixed and warmed properly and a neutralizing soda bath
• fiber soldering pad or annealing pan with pumice media
• steel or plastic sinusoidal stake
• steel or plastic cross-peen hammer
Materials
• 24-gauge (.020") (.511 mm) brass or copper sheet
• easy silver solder
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
• Ensure proper ventilation.
• Know where your hands are at all times.
• Make sure the area is clear of any flammables.
• Secure long hair and no loose clothing.
• Remove distractions and be mentally present.
• Never light a torch with a cigarette lighter.
• Work on a nonflammable surface.
• Wear eye protection.
• Wear ear protection.
• Wear flame-resistant clothing and closed-toe shoes.
Synclastic shape
Anticlastic forming requires a special tool called a sinusoidal stake. This stake is shaped into undulating peaks and valleys and is most commonly made from steel or a hard plastic; this technique will also require a cross-peen hammer. If you use a steel stake, it is a good idea to use a plastic hammer. A steel hammer and a steel stake, if not used correctly, can make this technique very frustrating to learn. You can also use a plastic stake with a steel hammer.
1 The anticlastic shape is extremely strong after forming; this technique will allow you to use a much thinner gauge sheet metal, which will result in a lighter piece of jewelry. Cut a 1/2" (1.3 cm) wide piece of the brass or copper sheet that is long enough to wrap completely around your sinusoidal stake and hang loosely. This length will vary with the type of stake you choose and the project you are making.
2 True up the ends and solder them together; then round up the piece on a mandrel as with the round bezel in the Setting Stones section (page 125). During the forming process, the ends need to be held firmly together or the form will twist out of shape; soldering them together gives you less to worry about while learning this technique and will make it easier. Mark a centerline around the ring using a permanent marker; this will help you keep the metal centered on the stake and provide a visual guide to follow.
3 Place the ring over the end of the mandrel and into a valley large enough to allow the piece to sit in the valley but not touch the bottom. The smaller the valley, the higher the metal will sit on the sides and the wider the gap between the metal and the stake. Sink the metal slowly; the gap should be no greater than 10 mm (.39").
4 Hold the soldered metal ring and pull with slight downward pressure; be sure to keep the metal in contact with the stake at all times. If you chose not to solder the ends together, pinch them together firmly. Begin striking the edge of the metal that is furthest away from you, rotating the ring as you begin to sink the edge against the stake.
5 Continue working this edge all the way around.
6 Repeat steps 4 and 5 on the opposite edge of the ring. You should end up with a ring that is flared on both ends with a bulge of unhammered metal between the ends.
7 Hammer the bulge of metal down to the valley floor, working all the way around to finish the piece.
As previously mentioned, the dome and the teardrop shape made in the Dapping chapter (page 90) are synclastic forms and the same process—a block of wood is used for forming—can be used for any synclastic shape.
Tools
• torch and striker
• pickle pot with pickle mixed and warmed properly and a neutralizing soda bath
• fiber soldering pad or annealing pan with pumice media
• block of wood
• ball-peen hammer
• dapping punch
• plastic mallet
• bench vice
Materials
• 24-gauge (.020") (.511 mm) brass or copper sheet
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
• Ensure proper ventilation.
• Know where your hands are at all times.
• Make sure the area is clear of any flammables.
• Secure long hair and no loose clothing.
• Remove distractions and be mentally present.
• Never light a torch with a cigarette lighter.
• Work on a nonflammable surface.
• Wear eye protection.
• Wear ear protection.
• Wear flame-resistant clothing and closed-toe shoes.
1 On the end grain of the basswood block that you carved the teardrop shape in, use a ball-peen hammer to form a round depression. Secure this block of wood in a bench vice.
2 Cut a 3/4" (1.9 cm) strip of the brass or copper sheet and anneal it (page 52).
3 Set the end of the strip in the depression that you made in the end of the block (a) and, with a ball-peen, begin sinking the strip into the depression (b). As you sink the strip, it will begin to curl up toward you (c-d); continue until you have formed the entire strip (e).
4 Anneal the piece that you just formed. Select a dapping punch that has a slightly smaller diameter than the inside curvature of the formed strip, and secure in the bench vice.
5 Holding the form firmly against the dapping punch, use a plastic mallet to planish the form, starting with the edges and moving to the center; this will true up the outside edge of the form and give a smooth outside radius; continue until the form is complete.
