Holloware Construction
At the beginning of September, I bought 3 dozen saw blades. I snapped the last two last week and all I could do was sigh - if only they could have held out a little longer!
We learned the basics of holloware construction yesterday. Basically it is any object where air is trapped inside, or, uh, hollow. The trick seems to be constructing it in such a way that it doesn't become a little bomb - trapped air can only be heated once. If it is re-heated and there's no little hole or notch for it to escape, it will blow apart.
We can make a box or a sphere (if we feel really ambitious), but I think my sample is going to be like the one done we went through yesterday - making a lentil bead. Basically you punch out two same sized discs using the circle cutter and hydraulic press. Then you get a tool called a dapping block with dapping punches. Pick a hole that is about the size of your disc, along with a punch that is smaller than the hole. Centre it, and hammer away! In theory one should be able to make little miniature bowls this way. Emery the ends flat for a good seem and solder all around.
I don't have any pictures of my final project yet. Right now it's an ambiguous pile of pieces. I also forgot the jump rings I was going to solder on the coffee table, so that didn't get done last night. Shona suggested a great fix for a problem with the letters that I was having. I couldn't cut the letters as perfectly as I would like, and the effect would be ruined if they were not perfect, so she found me a box of letter punches. This worked so much better, even though the letters are 5mm high. I punched a variety of them in a circle on the base and the effect was very pleasing.
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purpleponyart) wrote,
