Friday, May 8, 2015

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.
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6 comments:

  1. DeborahRead.comMay 9, 2015 at 4:16 PM

    You have been one busy lady !!! all so marvelous

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  2. DeborahRead.comMay 13, 2015 at 7:46 AM

    questions:
    1. how do you get such nice impressions with your rolling mill - I'm still new to it and sometimes I get a good impression- is it the using of a soft cardboard to cover copper and plate that helps
    2. nice clean - are you annealing and then rolling ? or is your copper dead soft and you dont anneal when you press the impression either ?

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  3. RoseMarysClayMay 13, 2015 at 11:43 AM

    I don't use any cardboard. I always anneal first, then clean the metal well. These were 24 gauge copper. I buy large sheets from Industrial Metal nearby. Or go through their scrap bins! I have those 12" long brass texture patterns from Metalliferous...don't you also have them? I ordered a few more that I should get Friday. Rolling the metal through takes a bit of effort, using both hands. Maybe you don't have the rollers tight enough? My rolling mill is from Euro, nothing fancy or expensive. Sorry I have no secrets to share! Keep in touch.

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  4. DeborahRead.comMay 14, 2015 at 5:43 AM

    Yes I have the long texture plates - I too have the euro mill - I have just not used it enough - I will keep working on it - - I want to get some more textures as well and I love metalliferous - tks for response always a pleasure

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  5. TheresalbushAugust 1, 2015 at 7:56 AM

    To make your dies for the hydraulic press, what kind of saw are you using to cut the acrylic?

    ReplyDelete
  6. RoseMarysClayAugust 1, 2015 at 2:12 PM

    Hi Theresa, if you check back to my earlier posts in April, you'll see when I ordered the Bonny Doon form box from Rio, I also ordered spiral blades. To cut the plexiglass I used a regular jeweler's saw with a spiral blade. You drill a hole first, then insert the blade and cut out the pattern. It took a little longer than cutting metal, but it worked great. What are you going to make? Hope you'll share your project!

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