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?

Inspiration has hit ...

You know that feeling you get, when you discover something new and wonderful, and you just want to jump in and try it out, right this second? Well, I've got that feeling big time.

Before I found lampworking, I dappled a bit in metal jewelry. Just a bit mind you, and it's been ... what, 20 years or so?
It was a bit of sawing, filing and soldering, and then some swirlings of really fat wires. But it never came to much. Then one of the very last things I did before packing it all up was this copper neckpiece.

I made a pattern, cut it out and hammered it up from a flat sheet on my little anvil. I'm still kind of proud of it, all these years later, even though it is not really comfy since you can't move/turn your head freely wearing this. But the shape is nice and it has a lovely texture, and it came out quite well I think, for not knowing what I were doing.

And now I've discovered techniques that makes my heart race. Oh yes!
Anticlastic raising, Rueger folds, star folds, sinusoidal stakes ... my mind is buzzing with wonderful new words and ideas of gloriously organic shapes. Goggle 'fold forming', click for pictures and behold a world of beauty. Please do google it, you really have to see what I am going on about. Or just click here :)

I have to try this, I really do, or I'll simply burst. I have dug out my old tools from the box in the basement. I have my little anvil, I have some copper plate, I have my saw and a bunch of blades. I am sure I can anneal the copper with my lampworking torch, if I take care not to melt it ... but I am terribly short on usefull hammers, and I have no stakes either, and both are kind of vital.

ETA: Okay, so I tried to make a leaf, the simplest fold forming possible (I think), and ... I'm not going to show it. It is horrible :) I found out I really do need a hammer with the propper shape (mine is slightly rounded, but mostly flat and circular. And it's way too light for this), but hey! I found out I can anneal the copper right on the top of my kitchen stove!
Brilliant :)
And I can draw and think up what I want to do, until I can get some tools. Yay!