Hammering Out Roses

Nothing like roses says Happy Valentines Day, or for any other special occasion. But a real rose wilts after a while. Why not make a metal rose to show how much you care and will last indefinitely ? These roses help define fine hammer techniques for blacksmiths by allowing them to learn to control their hammers with lighter blows without damaging fragile sheets of metal.

Using the gas forge, I heat up the individual pieces and add the texture.

The textured pieces are laid out on the anvil for assembly.

The first piece is added to the stem and held in place with a spot send from the TIG machine

Each layer is added to the stem.

The bottom leaf case is added to the bottom of the petals.

A torch heats up each layer starting from the middle and the petals are given their final shape.

The finished black iron rose seen from the top.

The iron rose seen from the side.

Copper sheets are cut into the petal,shape with a jewelers saw.

The various layers of copper petals are layer out for assembly.

The completed copper rose with additional leaves spot welded onto the stem.

The copper rose seen from the side. The copper will be black from the heat, so to make it shiny I heat the entire rose and quickly quench it in water to make some of the shine come back.