Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Bing

A little warekomi job. Something up with my chemical balance after doing this, so the best I can do is give the literal image of something splitting and forcing its way in. A small job, not so painful in this case, that is undertaken while another is still ongoing. The copper plate is 0.5mm thick and 360mm wide. Another name plate for a new home, hopefully for the family named or I have a lot of reworking to do. Lots of people locally with this family name, so I guess I could flog the thing if not. A very nice couple actually, who I had the pleasure of meeting back on the 10th.
The thing with beating is to ensure plenty of annealing. Also don't get the idea of making wooden forms and beating the shape into them. It is a waste of time I tried it years ago and it is easier to just work away with little mandrels (also a type of primate, but I think it is the word I want) of various shapes driven with a little hammer. What does work is a nice block of lead and on occasion lead melted into the copper shape to back it up for flattening off and whatnot.
A new and useful trick for me was to have the letters marked on the front and back of the sheet for the first shaping. I made a center line vertically on both sides, then transposed a horizontal base line for the letters, too. I drew over the letters on a piece of normal copy paper with a felt pen that transfered right through the sheet. This scrap of paper about the size of the name had a corresponding set of lines on it so that I could register it properly front and back. The felt pen having passed through the paper it was easy to get the mirror version for the tracing on the back. Simple carbon paper tracing gives sufficient detail. This allowed me to strike in the letters from the back and then turn over and refine their outlines from the front as well as knock in the negative space for the Os and As etc. The first annealing removes all the pen and carbon marks, so you want to get a good sense of the characters before you heat and dip.
Still a way to go, but under the principal (if that is the one I want, not the chap with the cane and skeletal facial features) that the first step is the hardest we are more than halfway up the hill I am sure.
I took the precaution of experimenting with TIG welding this thickness of copper and the results were tolerable, so I may be able to save a booboo (like a big hole knocked through a letter) if I make one.
I didn't think I would like the thin sheet on its own, but now it has letters in I quite like the honest thinitude, just rounding over the edge might be sufficient rather than making it into a solid looking plaque. We'll see.
The only slight drawback to the project has been the necessity to collect certain bodily fluids in order to obtain the green patina so popular with copper objects. Raised eyebrows among the womenfolk as they pass by one of those drink bottles half filled with a clear apple juice type substance standing at the door to remind me of my duty when the urge to leave the shop springs on me.
"Ah the humanity", to quote the writers of Chandler Bing.