A NEW DIE FOR THE HYDRAULIC PRESS

I've always liked this curved shape. It was like putting a puzzle together, dividing a small piece of paper into four parts, folding it and trying to duplicate each part. Oh well, it's not perfect, but I like it! I copied it to the protective paper on the acrylic plexiglass, drilled a hole for my saw blade and cut out the shape.

I annealed several pieces and used my favorite leaf texture plate.

HEY, WHAT IS THAT PIECE IN THE RIGHT CORNER? It's a skeleton leaf run through the rolling mill on a piece of copper! Isn't it beautiful? I just got a packet of 100 yesterday ... Think of all the possibilities!!

Here is the new die with all the curves. I love it!

I made a few more pieces using the leaf texture on the other dies I had made.

These were the smaller oval forms.

The long skinny ovals. I really like these!

And, again, the new die shape and another heart.

Next on my list is to make a smaller heart shape die. AND since I have only two 3" plexiglass pieces left that came with my form box kit, I'll have Google how to cut my 10" x 10" sheets into pieces.

AND ... now that I have all these pressed pieces, it's time to start creating pendants.

FAILURE AND SUCCESSES

It's been an exciting morning. I couldn't wait to try the three dies. I cut a 3" square piece of copper sheet (26 gauge) and ran it through the rolling mill with one of the brass texture plates I have. Next, the piece was annealed and flattened. It had to be trimmed a bit since the rolling mill stretched it.

Here are the three dies and metal ready to go. Will try the heart die first.

OH NO!!! Too many pulls of the hydraulic press lever, and the metal got pushed to the bottom! It even has an impression of the little hole in the bottom of the form box.

I didn't notice until I turned it over that the metal had actually ripped!

We're not done yet. Another piece of copper was textured, annealed and pressed. This time I pulled the lever three times instead of six. A perfect heart! How exciting!

I cut and textured two more pieces for the other dies.

Three pulls of the lever seems to be good. Should I try four? I love these pieces and want to make them into pendants. Will cut them, leaving an edge that will be riveted to a back piece. A successful morning! I'll try 24 gauge copper next.

A NEW TOOL FOR THE HYDRAULIC PRESS!

I LOVE NEW TOOLS! I just received this Bonny Doon Form Box kit from Rio Grande. It came with six precut 3" plexiglass pieces, two brass faceplates, two urethane pieces, the pusher and Liquid Bur Life. Also to cut the plexiglass, I ordered spiral wax saw blades. This system will allow me to cut my own dies into shapes I want and press metal pieces with that shape ... using the hydraulic press.

These are the spiral blades.

Can't wait to start. My first piece will be a heart shape. You draw the shape on the plexiglass, then drill a small hole to insert your saw blade ... and saw out the shape. In the DVD, "Crushed Metal Cuff and Hydraulic Press" with Richard Sweetman, he saves the inner cut-out piece. By filing it so that it had ridges, you can press that small piece into your already pressed form and it will add the ridges. Hope that makes sense ... It's a great DVD for your collection. There's a section on pressing metal WITHOUT having a hydraulic press ... by using your vise!

REVISITING THE HYDRAULIC PRESS

I've had my hydraulic press for several years, and recently the pancake dies from Potter U.S.A. sparked my interest. I ordered two of them, a small feather die for earrings and a larger feather die for bracelets.

Here is the bracelet pancake die to make the feather cuff. I folded a piece of 22 gauge copper sheet lengthwise and textured the top edge with a riveting hammer.

I annealed the piece, opened and flattened it and cut it using the die and hydraulic press.

This is the video using the small feather pancake die that caught my interest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaqmLepANks I followed the instructions in the video, and cut each metal piece in half so I would have two sets of earrings. I have yet to drill holes in the earrings and finish wire wrapping.

Photos of the earrings and cuff after texturing and cutting with the die. When I started forming the cuff on a bracelet mandrel, it was too long for a medium-sized wrist. The cuff measured 7 inches. I cut off almost 3/4 inch and it was so much better.

Here are photos of the formed cuff. I'm so pleased with it! It will be finished with liver of sulphur patina later ... once all the other pieces are ready.

Next I cut two more cuffs from 20 gauge copper without fold forming the center. I'm going to solder a copper or sterling silver wire down the center and add feather texturing lines. I'll finish these and show them to you in my next post.