raising

For the past week or more I  have been pondering my Super Bowl Challenge 2010 designed. While taking a breather from do analysis at work or while driving home, the ideas have been running through the brain.

One night this week, while watching the TV, I found my self playing with paper. I am folding, curving, cutting and I came up with a design that fits into my current thread of learning - what happens with different shapes of copper when you raise them.

I took my folded paper into my husbands office and asked him what the thought. We both saw a flower or a origami crane depending on how you looked at it. I was happy with it and now had my design idea.

I was going to raise a triangular piece of copper. I would use a equilateral triangle. This type of triangle is one where each angle is 60 degrees; as all the angles in a triangle always add up to 180 degrees. Trust me on this if you don’t remember your geometry lessons.  Using an equilateral triangle also meant that all sides would be the same length.  I had not decided if I would have a flat or a rounded bottom. That would happen as I was working with the copper.

This morning I was up at 8 am and tracing my triangle on the copper. Because of the size of my copper sheet I had to first cut it down to size. The length of each side of the triangle was about 6.25 inches. Several saw blades later, it was cut out.

Time to set up the T-stake, get the hammers and anneal the copper.   It was now around noon and I was presented with a dish of scrambled eggs for lunch! (He is such a sweetie!)

I traced a small circle in the middle and took out my sinking hammer and sandbag and sunk the center. The bottom would be round.  Over the next two hours I was able to do two sets of raising and annealing.

Before I started the third set of raising, I felt the bottom needed some bouging. I took out a 2.5″ diameter wood ball I have and……

WHAM - the blood was everywhere.  I had hit my right thumb and it did not hurt YET. I have no idea where my mind had gone cause I was certain that my fingers were not on the top of the copper. But some how that leather mallet with a lead insert came down, right on the edge of the nail and it pinched the skin at the tip of the finger.  HELP!!.. HELP!!  As I wrapped my thumb in a paper towel and went in to the kitchen.  Out came the hydrogen peroxide, Band-Aids, Neosporin, and soap. Even washing it hurt ;=(((

So at half time the Quarterback is out with injuries and is sitting on the bench with a large dram of Scotch [It does have medicinal qualities].   I think tomorrow I will be able to finish it and then I will post my pictures.

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On Saturday night I felt that I had to get back into the garage and raise some more copper. I could not do this in my office/studio as I still had some stuff on the floor. But since the forecast for Sunday was going to be warm, I could open the garage door and enjoy the weather too.

Sunday morning I pulled out a sheet of 18 gauge copper and on one edge there was a odd rectangle sticking out as a result of cutting off some copper from each other end. The piece was about 3″ wide by 4″ long and maybe two of the corners were close to 90 degrees and one end was a tad wider than the other. I was about to saw out a circle and decided not to. I was going to work with it odd square that it was.

From my studio I grabbed my newest T-stake, the thinner raising hammer, the planishing hammer and the copper and into the garage I went.

Anneal, clean,  hammer, Round one done
Anneal, clean,  hammer, round two done
Anneal, clean,  hammer, round three done
Start planishing - wait, I think I want to do a wee bit more raising
Anneal, clean,  hammer, round 4 done
NOW start the planishing.

Ohhhh! I like the hammer marks. Stop -  don’t use the planishing hammer just use the raising hammer gently. Hmm what to do on the inside?? Take the raising hammer and make some marks there too.

Now I am done!!

I filed the edges and did some polishing and on Monday night I saw Deb. She was very surprised and then stated that working with smaller vessels is hard. Hard? Difficult?  I didn’t think so. So we had a good laugh that boiled down to  - IF you don’t tell me these things how would I know; and then how would I know it should be hard.

I guess next time I should make sure I have a difficult time ;=) and of course over at kernology there are more pictures.

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Over at Hammermarks (opens in a new window), Wendy has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged us (her readers) join her in making a super bowl, on or for Super-Bowl Sunday [That would be February 7, 2010].

I think this is a great idea, and I have decided to join in on the fun.

Now I have to think of something that challenges ME!

Should I :

Make Tear Drop 2: - I think that might be cheating; but to see if I could make another in a smaller size would be a challenge.

Sink a simple bowl: - I have done these in various sizes starting from a 1″ disk to a 5″ disk, should I go for a larger size?

Raise a bowl: I have done one simple bowl and then I did a tray (which Deb says is truely wonderful job) - maybe I could add a curve to the body mid-height

Raise a Pint:  Actually I think raising a copper pint, along the lines of a traditional glass pint, would be appropriate, then I could drink a beer or other wonderful libation out of it.  Hmmm, would I or even, could I get it certified as a true Imperial Pint???

Off to do some research on the dimensions of a pint glass. Get that beer cold and ready!

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This is it everyone, it is already 2010 in some places and in about 8 hours, 2009 will slip quietly by - into the past, here in Southern California.

I have spent the past two days working on a copper tray/dish.  It is for Elisa of Scotland who asked for THREE copper bowls to put her bling into.

FYI, I am the maker [most] of said bling. Over the past year, as I was learning to solder silver by making chains, pendants and rings, Elisa would alway ask for a copy - that and a few things she also wanted but I had not made for myself. Really, she was challenging me to go outside my safe zone.

Once I had mastered the art of sinking a small bowl out of  a copper disk, there was the request: “Could I have three wee copper bowls to put my bling into?” [again use your bad Gallic brogue here]. After some more discussion we decided on a small one for the earrings, a medium sized one for the rings and chain bracelets and a tray for the cuff bracelets and larger items.

The small bow which is approximately 2″ in diameter and about an 1.5″ deep and the medium sized bowl of 3″ in diameter and about 2″ deep were sent off at the beginning of the month.

The tray dish was another matter. I had just learned about raising and could not decide if I should sink the tray or raise it. Then my T-Stake arrived yesterday. I had to do it - the tray had to be raised. I drew out my oval, cut my copper and drew the line where the bottom would turn into the sides.

Into the garage I went at 6 pm with my hammers, stake and hope. I needed hope because my side wall was only going to be about 1″ high and that’s not much to work with.  I got one round done, annealed the copper and put into the pickle for the night.

At 11 am this morning, I got my hammers, stake, cleaned copper and went back into the garage. After two rounds, making a total of three, I knew it was done.  I planished it and took it upstairs for the final trim and cleaning. It is now 5:00 pm.

It is now done and I am so proud. I DID IT and it did not end up in the scrap bin YIPPPEEEE

Yes, I know there are chatter marks on the inside edge from the stake and my hammers but HEY, this is only the second thing I have raised.

Here is a picture. And to see more, follow this link to Kernology

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