Fold Forming Greatness

On Saturday, I took a class at the Dallas Craft Guild on Fold Forming.  Fold Forming is a technique in metal working.  Basically, you fold a sheet of metal and then apply various techniques to get the results you want. 

During the morning, we learned fold forming techniques.  During the last part of the afternoon, I used those techniques to make the bracelet on the right.  It was originally a 1"x7" piece of 18 gauge copper.  The one on the left I made today.  It was originally a 2"x6" piece of 18 gauge copper.  The larger one ended up a bit thin (I've quite the ability at forging), so I'll have to use 16 gauge copper next time. 

If you're wondering why the right one is shiny and the left one has what looks to be a pink powder on top, it's because I haven't fully cleaned the left one.  I've pickled it but not attacked it with the brass brush to remove the oxidation. 

See, when you heat metal to anneal it, oxidation occurs.  On copper, oxidation tends to be reddish black.  To remove this oxidation, you pickle the metal, meaning you place it into a pot of "pickle."  The pickle we use is a mixture of water and pool chemicals.  This pickle removes the oxidation.  Then, you wash the pickled metal with water and scrub it with a brass brush and Dawn soap to remove the last bits of oxidation.  If you don't scrub the copper clean, the pink powdery finish will rub off onto your skin when you wear the piece.  So, pickle it!

To make these bracelets, I annealed the metal (heated it to a certain temperature and then quenched it in a bath of cold water) to soften it and then folded it in half.  I annealed it again and then forged (hammered) it into a "C" shape, annealing each time I needed to soften it back up.  If you work in metal, you learn quickly that metal work hardens, meaning doing something like forging will make the metal get super hard and unworkable again.  Thus, you have to anneal it often.  After I'd reached my desired shape, I pried the metal back open, making sure to not lose my fold.  I shaped it on an oval mandrel and then annealed it again.  Lastly, I flipped the metal inside out and shaped it on a mandrel into the cuff.  The whole process took me a couple of hours, though I was working on a second project at the same time (to be shared later). The result is a frilly bracelet that looks like a feather or leaf.

Wanna see what the bracelets look like on a wrist?  Here's the smaller one on -

And the larger one:

 

And some detail shots...

Inside of Big Daddy Bracelet -

This would have been the outside if I hadn't flipped it inside out.

Edges of Big Daddy Bracelet -

Edges of the small bracelet - 

 

One of the cool things about this technique is that you never quite know what you're going to get.  I have to admit, I'm hooked!

Comments

[Carrie]

Very cool. I am totally impressed. :)

[Hatton Greensward]

Hello,
I have a question out of nowhere for you! Well, actually, it's a question in reference to a comment you made about the availability of stampmaking machines. If you are familiar with these, could you suggest which is the best overall? The new TC machine is intriguing but the finished image size is pretty small. Thanks very much, bambino!

[spicy]

Wow! Those are beautiful! You are quite the multi-talented one!