{"id":2143,"date":"2013-06-24T00:16:59","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T00:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2013-06-24T17:20:07","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T17:20:07","slug":"press-forming-adventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2143","title":{"rendered":"Press-Forming Adventures Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Above images courtesy of BladeGallery.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And a work-in-progress image of my own.<\/p>\n

In the past I’ve experimented with carving bird skulls from antler, and some with small helmets. \u00a0While they proved popular, all of the above works were terribly labor intensive. \u00a0While stumbling around the Internet, I found some videos from Rio Grande jewelry supply<\/a> showing the Bonny Doon Press<\/a> in operation. \u00a0This started ideas rolling around in my noggin, and a little more research led me to PotterUSA.com<\/a>\u00a0and their inexpensive jewelry presses and\u00a0contained urethane<\/a>. \u00a0Since I already have a small 20 ton hydraulic press I use for bladesmithing, that added fuel to the fire, and here we are. \u00a0Here’s a little hint – since many bladesmiths have a hydraulic press for forging, they might take note that this process could easily be adapted to create silhouette dies that could be used to make metal halves of sheaths. \u00a0Here’s a pretty decent video about silhouette dies by\u00a0Melissa Muir<\/a>\u00a0– bladesmiths take note of the possibilities…<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>Above is my (semi) finished first success. \u00a0It was a bit of a winding road, but I seem to have broken at least some of the code. \u00a0I can now make multiples of this design, with maybe 70% less work for each. \u00a0Here’s how I got there…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAbove is my first attempt, something I think of as an encouraging failure. \u00a0I carved a positive bird skull shape in walnut (grain oriented vertically) and glued it onto a 2 inch diameter, 1 inch thick circle of walnut (grain oriented horizontally). \u00a0The press squashed it like a soft rubber hockey puck. \u00a0But, the small sheet of copper I used was partially shaped well enough to encourage me to make a metal die.<\/p>\n

I decided on an owl skull, since my contained urethane is only 2 inches in diameter, and owl skulls are round rather than long. \u00a0I figured I could make a pressing\u00a0large enough to make a pendant sized piece.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nHere is my pattern and research material.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAbove is the beginning of the owl skull form, sawed from a 1 x 1 inch square mild steel bar. \u00a0You can also see my PotterUSA contained urethane in this image. \u00a0This little plug of urethane is quite hard, I’m unable to dent it with my finger, but it will serve as the resistance medium to form thin copper sheet around the owl skull form.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>Here’s one side partly ground with an angle grinder. \u00a0I’m leaving the skull attached to the bar to help hold this slippery little thing…<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>I’ve drilled an tapped a hole in the bottom to hold the skull onto a metal plate during pressing.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>Partly ground – note the center line I’ve drawn on with Sharpie permanent marker to try and keep both sides identical. \u00a0I often use red Sharpie because it doesn’t show blood as easily…<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>More grinding and a few features drawn in.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>This is as far as I can go with the angle grinder.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>Above, another center line and additional features.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>Here I’ve begun adding inthe eyes with my NSK micromotor and carbide burrs. \u00a0Note that I’m not carving anything below the halfway mark – if I carve there, the urethane will force copper into the concave spaces, trapping my form after pressing. \u00a0That would probably cause damage to either the copper sheet or the form itself trying to remove the pressing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The other side – same story, different day…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThings smoothed out some…<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>Above, I’m using a small drum sander to finesse the shape and smooth the surface.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nNow I’ve cut the skull from the steel bar, ready to file and grind the back side.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n\"\"
\n<\/a>The above two images – using coarse ScotchBrite\u2122 and jewelers files to refine and smooth everything. \u00a0I want the form to be smooth, but I don’t think it needs to be polished.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n\"\"
\n<\/a>The above two images, the finished form left and right sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above images courtesy of BladeGallery.com And a work-in-progress image of my own. In the past I’ve experimented with carving bird skulls from antler, and some with small helmets. \u00a0While they proved popular, all of the above works were terribly labor … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[23,28,31,35,11],"tags":[9,17,16,44,10,12],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6qLAy-yz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2292,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2292","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":0},"title":"Press-Forming Adventures Part 6","date":"July 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Above are all of the hummingbird and owl press forming works I've been working on...an interesting ride, I must say. Above is the completed silver hummingbird skull and titanium pendant, with leather neck cord. Available soon at\u00a0BladeGallery.com Below are images of a Hummingbird Medicine Pouch. \u00a0This one is for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Hummingbird_Skull_Press_Form_35.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2273,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2273","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":1},"title":"Press-Forming Adventures Part 5","date":"July 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I'm working on making a pendant from the little silver hummingbird skull I press formed during our last visit. \u00a0I'm engraving a piece of Grade 2 titanium for the back of the pendant. \u00a0I'm hoping the gray color of the titanium will coordinate nicely with the bright silver color\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Hummingbird_Skull_Press_Form_17.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2248,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2248","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":2},"title":"Press-Forming Adventures Part 4","date":"July 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, the owl worked out so well, I decided a hummingbird was in order. \u00a0If you recall the \"encouraging failure\" from the first post in this series, I used the copper sheet pressing from that to chase a small hummingbird skull. \u00a0That became the model for a press die. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Hummingbird_Skull_Press_Form_11.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3960,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3960","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":3},"title":"Hummingbird Skull with Silver Helmet Pendant","date":"July 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Starting a new press-formed hummingbird skull , this time with a twist. Here are several pressings, and carefully forging away the wrinkles in the copper sheet caused by the pressing. Here's the beginning of the twist - I'm upcycling a failed silver pressing (it cracked!) to become a helmet. Trimming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Silver_Helmet_Hummingbird_Skull_8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2361,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2361","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":4},"title":"Hummingbird Art Basket – More Adventures in Press Forming","date":"October 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's another little art basket my wife and I collaborated on. \u00a0This little hummingbird basket is about three inches in diameter. The basket itself is made from ziricote (the rim and base) and is woven with waxed Irish linen. \u00a0The pyrographed lid is from an antique piece of old-growth cherry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Basket"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Hummingbird_Skull_Basket_web_2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2216,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2216","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":5},"title":"Press-Forming Adventures Part 3","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Now it's time to begin the finishing process. \u00a0I'm going to be \"chasing\" the final details here, so will be filling and embedding the copper piece in pitch. \u00a0But, since I intend to use my Lindsay Airgraver in the chasing process, I'll need a fixture I can place in my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Press_Formed_Owl_Skull_Pendant_60.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2173,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions\/2173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}