Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Ruffled edge treatment-Metal forming tutorial

Carol Dekle-Foss

Hello everyone! For this post I'm going to show you a simple way to create a cute ruffled edge on your jewelry designs. But first, I just have to share some of my favorite photos from a family trip to Arizona last month. Road trip anyone??
Sedona
Seven Sacred Pools, Sedona
 Arizona is amazing. It's the perfect place to recharge your batteries and find inspiration. If you haven't been, make sure to put it on the top of your list of places to visit!
 I picked up these lovelies at Dah Rock Shop in Tuscon, and they are what inspired this post on ruffles. Although, not a ruffle kinda gal, I was drawn to their curvy shape and wanted to accentuate them by creating a metal ruffled edge. I picked up this technique in my last metal smith class.
Here's the tutorial!

Ruffled Edge Treatment for Metal

What you will need:
Block of wood
Ruler
Bench vise
Cross peen hammer
files
Torch 
Sharpie
1. First, you want to cut a small piece of wood. Mine is about 2 1/2" by 1 1/2".

2. Then, mark your measurements according to what size you want your ruffles to be. My ruffles are tiny so I spaced them about 1/8" apart.

3.Using a three square file, file two grooves between your measurements.

4. First, anneal your metal to make it soft. Then, place it upside down in about a 45 degree angle to the wood block. Hammer lightly with the cross peen hammer. Not a very good pic, sorry!

Just keep hammering your piece along the edge until you are finished! You can create different size ruffles on all four sides of the block, and use them for all different types of applications!

Unfortunately, I am not loving the earrings. I think because I was more focused on ceramics,  I really didn't do my best on them. Oh well. The ceramics on the other hand, Wow! Our third batch turned out amazing!
 These are my favorite. Gorgeous earthy colors! Uh oh, I don't remember what glazes I used. I'm gonna have to start writing this stuff down.

Even hubby got involved. I am so proud of him! To be honest guys, he almost quit. He got so frustrated one day because he couldn't form the beads the way he wanted and threw them all over the studio! I held back from laughing and kept encouraging him. He is back on track, and looking to create more. Yay! I'm so excited he is involved and that we are learning ceramics together. 

I should have all of these listed to my website here by the end of the week. 

Thank you for reading!

4 comments:

Patti Vanderbloemen said...

I LOVE those earrings! I don't know what stone that is (a druzy?), but the ruffled treatment looks perfect on the back plate! This is a cool technique - and I will be trying this!

And... the ceramics are just gorgeous! Kudos to your husband for "coming back to task" and you for encouraging him. We have all been there, haven't we?!

Unknown said...

Oh my - the color on those ceramic leaves is ah.ma.zing! Great tutorial, too. Thanks for sharing!!

Unknown said...

The copper earrings really are divine and so are your Arizona photos. My sister lives just south of Sedona in Prescott. So I spend a lot of time in that area. Try the little town of Jerome sometimes! My sis has horse property and on it is an old, small open pit copper mine from the 19th century. I find turquoise blue nuggets for wire wrapping!

Carol Dekle said...

@Patti, thank you!!! yes, it's a druzy geode that has been cut in half. I fell in love with the burgundy color! He just needed a bit of nudging in the right direction;)

Thank you Sherri! hopefully we can recreate those colors!

@Lu Thank you! You are sooo lucky! We drove through Jerome once. Very cool town and definitely a place to explore.

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