{"id":3180,"date":"2014-06-22T23:29:30","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T23:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3180"},"modified":"2014-06-26T18:19:32","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T18:19:32","slug":"beneath-the-blood-moon-pendant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3180","title":{"rendered":"“Beneath the Blood Moon” Pendant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making a Copper Overlay<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve been away from engraving for a few weeks, and I decided I needed to practice up a bit before starting on a knife commission. \u00a0This is an extension of a knife design I intend to engrave in a few weeks, and I thought it would make both a nice pendant, and be a good practice piece to get my hand back into the swing of things. \u00a0I decided the moon behind the owl’s face would look good in copper and make a nice contrast to the grey of the titanium pendant. \u00a0Incidentally, this pendant is about 2 1\/4 inches tall (about 57 mm).<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_31\"<\/a>
\n<\/a>Above is the finished pendant, in Grade 2 titanium, copper, and 24 karat gold, with silver hardware.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_3\"
\nAbove is a copper overlay practice piece for the practice piece, and my very first overlay! \u00a0Overlays are actually pretty simple in concept, but take a bit of practice to get right. \u00a0One simply makes an entire forest of tiny, sharp\u00a0hooks in the parent metal, and then pound a softer metal down into those hooks. \u00a0If you’ve done it right, the little hooks will sink into the softer overlay metal, and then bend over, trapping the overlay. \u00a0Unlike inlays, overlays sit on top of the parent metal, where inlays continue\u00a0down below the surface. \u00a0Overlays are best used for light duty items which won’t get a lot of abuse. \u00a0Overlays might not be the best thing for engraved firearms, where the pounding shock caused by shooting might loosen them.
\n
\n\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_5A\"
\n<\/a><\/strong>Above, I’ve indicated how I begin to make my forest of tiny hooks. \u00a0Using a flat graver, I\u00a0cut lots of parallel lines, holding the graver at about 45 degrees to the surface of the metal. When I’ve cut parallel lines all across the surface to be overlaid, I then change direction by about 45 degrees and cut more parallel lines. \u00a0I did this for three successive layers, and was able to get the overlay to stick quite nicely.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_1\"<\/a>
\nAbove, I’ve prepared the surface of the moon by cutting it lower than the surface of the owl face, and added several shallow craters. \u00a0Now, I’m ready to begin cutting the tiny forest of hooks.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_4\"<\/a>
\nAbove, you can see where I’ve begun cutting the parallel line cuts, using a small flat graver. \u00a0I’m cutting from top to bottom, starting at the blue arrow.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_5\"<\/a>
\nAnother view of the first row of cuts, above.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_6\"<\/a>
\nHere, I’ve finished covering the entire surface of the moos with parallel cuts, raising a small bur each time. \u00a0It feels about as rough as a fingernail file.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_7\"<\/a> \"Blood_Moon_Overlay_8\"<\/a>
\nAbove, a more magnified view, and the entire pendant at this point.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_10\"<\/a>
\nHere I’ve begun the second layer of cuts, at 45 degrees to the first group. \u00a0I’m careful to cut AGAINST the raised burs of the first layer – our aim is to raise lots of burs, not knock them down. \u00a0I’ve started at the blue arrow, and worked down.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_11\"<\/a>
\nA more magnified view.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_12\"<\/a>
\nAnd, above, the entire surface finished with the second layer of cuts. \u00a0It is now so rough, you can sand bits of skin off with it.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_13\"<\/a>
\nAbove, the overall view of the second layer.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_14\"<\/a>
\nNow for the last (third) layer. \u00a0These end up perpendicular to the first layer. \u00a0It is difficult to see these as lines of cuts, because they are beginning to become lots and lots of individual burs.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_15\"<\/a>
\nA more magnified view of the beginning of the third layer.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_16\"<\/a>
\nAbove, the entire third layer completed.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_17\"<\/a>
\nAnd, above, the entire pendant view. \u00a0We’re ready to add the copper foil overlay at this point.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_18\"<\/a>
\nAbove, I’ve used a brass punch to drive 1.25 mil copper foil into the forest of hooks. \u00a0I used a smaller brass punch to get into the tight spots. \u00a0Note that I’ve carefully annealed the copper foil to make it as soft as possible, and cleaned most of the scale off. \u00a0If you’ve done the forest of hooks correctly, the foil should stick quite easily. \u00a0If not, you’ve done something wrong……..By the way, this copper foil is the kind used for stained glass. \u00a0This stuff had a self adhesive film on it, but it burned away just fine when I annealed the copper.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_19\"
\n<\/a>And, above, an overall view. \u00a0I’ll use a sharp scalpel to carefully cut around the edge of the moon and cut away the extra foil. \u00a0I’m careful to cut away from the edges, so I don’t inadvertently pull up an edge of copper.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_20\"<\/a>
\nOnce I had the extra copper removed <\/p>\n

kupbezrecepty.com<\/a><\/div>\n

, I used a steel punch to really force the copper into the hooks, and bend them down as well, so the copper is really well trapped and secured. \u00a0I followed that with a little steel wool and burnishing with a carbide burnisher.<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_21\"<\/a>
\nAbove, you can see the finished overlay and the three punches I used – two brass and one steel (made from a broken rotary bur).<\/p>\n

\"Blood_Moon_Overlay_22\"
\n<\/a>And, above, ready for detailed engraving.<\/p>\n

For more information about overlays, try these excellent links by Sam Alfano:
\nhttp:\/\/www.igraver.com\/gold_overlay\/index.shtml<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.engraverscafe.com\/showthread.php?1904-Gold-overlay-variation<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks for Looking!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making a Copper Overlay I’ve been away from engraving for a few weeks, and I decided I needed to practice up a bit before starting on a knife commission. \u00a0This is an extension of a knife design I intend to … 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":[28,31],"tags":[3,7,17,16,41,10],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6qLAy-Pi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4102,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=4102","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":0},"title":"Centipede Tactical Lanyard Bead (and Others…)","date":"October 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Spent the last two days making titanium blanks for a pair of earrings and a couple tactical beads. It\u2019s a lot easier if someone else makes the knife or jewelry blanks, but no joy here\u2026 Starting a new project - a tactical bead in titanium. I blatantly stole the bead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Centipede_Tactical_Lanyard_Bead_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3657,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3657","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":1},"title":"“Greenman in Autumn” Pendant Dagger, Part 1","date":"December 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0\u00a0 Above images courtesy of Bladegallery.com Beginning a new project - a tiny pendant dagger in my signature \"Knapped Steel\" style. Here it's been cut out from 1084 carbon steel. 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Inlaying gold wire, from top left clockwise - undercutting the line (blue arrows) - hammering in wire - more hammering - all wire in place Clockwise from upper left - scraping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Pendant_Dagger_121.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3960,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3960","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"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":3093,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3093","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":4},"title":"Thor’s Hammer – Mjolnir Pendant","date":"April 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been finishing up preparations for showing at the\u00a01st Annual Seattle International Knife Show, and it turned out I had a few hours left over, so I decided to make a small Thor's Hammer pendant in steel and silver kupbezrecepty.com , with gold rune inlays. \u00a0All right, actually my wife\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Jewelry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Thors_Hammer_Web.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3356,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3356","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":5},"title":"Steampunk Viperfish","date":"August 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a small Work-in-Progress engraving Serge Panchenko's exquisite Coin Claw Pendant Knife. 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