Winter Berry Brooch

This weekend I had a lovely compliment on this brooche I made last year, so I thought I would show it to you.

I made it combining my two great loves in crafting, lampwork and metalwork. My first thought was to make a leaf with a lampwork flower, but then I realised that working in copper gives the leaf a very autumnal colour, and flowers don't bloom in autumn.

What then?
Aha, berries of course. So I made up a few delicious winter berries for the birds to feed on. 

The leaf is made with the foldforming technique, and a little bit on the large side at 4 x 9 cm (1 37/64" x 3 35/64"). The shape is very satisfying though.

Since this is only my second time putting bits together and soldering (except for 20 years ago), I tried my way through it, and made the pin in the back and the berries on separate copper wires. This was not easy to fit into the crease in the leaf, which left me with a tiny curl at the top, and the berries with a bit of a jiggle. Next time I would like to make it a single wire running through from tip of pin to attachment of berries.

Here are a couple more Pictures of the brooch, which really should be held in hand to fully appreciate the wonderful organic shape.

Front of brooch - those colours go well together

Side of brooch

Backside of the brooch - see that twist?

I'm rather pleased with it, and since it works very well with warm sweaters, I have been wearing it almost daily for months by now. Sweet!
I love working in metals and also finishing pieces ;)

Foldforming - I love it!

My first attempts with a more suitable hammer :)

You wouldn't believe it, but this is the start of a beautiful organically shaped leaf. The shape to the right is folded on the straight side, and then cut out of a 0,5mm copper plate.

The cresent to the left had the same shape before I took my hammer to it and gave it a good whacking. From the center and out to both ends, taking care not to hit the folded edge too much, just the open side of it.

Height of straight fold - 4,5cm

After hammering on both sides (to get the texture on both sides) I took it to my kitchen and heatet it on my gass stove to a dull red glow, then into the sink in a bath of cold water to cool it quickly.
Then the magic of unfolding begins ...

Oh yes ...!

Yummy

Smaller version, 3cm. I consider giving it a twist

 

And am I ever pleased. I love organic shapes, I love leaves, I even love the colour of copper!

 

These are straight from the flame (or the sink actually), and while I love the burnt autumn colours I would like to try a polished version some time. And a silver version ... Oh yum!

 

~ o 0 o ~

 

Oh, a slight problem - my lovely little anvil is now full of marks from the half of the hammer not hitting the copper (cause it's a tiny little bit of metal to work on). I rather thought anvils were too hard to get marks from hammers so I'm a little down by that.

 

Does this mean I should get a slimmer hammer? One that does not protrude beyond the edge of the copper. Is that what you all use out there in foldforming-land, tiny little hammers that are 1cm or less wide?