JC Week 2: Cutting and riveting copper : jewellery and small object making

Week 2: Cutting and riveting copper : jewellery and small object making

Week 1 homework was to search for an image to use for the week 2 cutting and riveting project

the selected image for this weeks activity depicts a person helping another person up.

Meaning:

the concept being explored here is leadership and teaching. biblically leadership and teaching is about lifing other people up. In todays society there can be the fear brought about in competitive 

environments. Just remember that the best way to learn and improve and maintain a skill is by teaching others. 

And the only time to look down on others is to help them up.

NB: the base of the work only mirrors one of the figures, the one on the ground, this is to allude to the spiritual concerns that I am exploring in this work.

I printed off the image to the desired size before the class. I chose to cut the copper plate ( provided as part of out starter pack ). To transfer the image to the plate I registered the image ( first by placing the copper plate ontop of the image and drawing around the plate to miminise waste ) with a stylus from a mobile phone and copy paper under the image, I traced around the image with enough pressure to create a strong image but not enough to mark the metal or tear the image.

 The next step was to cut the figures out being careful to turn the plate and trying not to apply too much pressure to the saw blade ( as jewellers blades are fragile ). Once cut I used the remainder of the copper from the plate to create a base, so that the figures could free stand. This base then needed to be bent to a 85'(not 90' else the figures would fall forward)  which the figures would be riveted to.

Bending machine used on the base plate

 To rivet the figures the positioning of the rivet holes had to be made with a hammer and nail punch. The first rivet hole was then drilled (DO NOT DRILL BOTH HOLES), the width of the hole needs to be exactly the same width of the wire used in the riveting. The burres created when drilling the holes needed to be removed with a drill bit before riveting. The wire, copper in this case, then needs to be thread into the hole allowing for 1mm to be exposed then the reverse side needs to be cut with 1mm exposed. Gently hammer both sides flattening the end of the wire thus creating the rivet. Once the rivet is firmly in place then drill the second rivet hole and repeat the riveting process.

Once both rivets are in place the bending of the copper needs to be gently tapped to correct any warping caused during the riveting process and fine tuning of the stand.