Easy Brooches

 This year I'm focusing on cold connections in my stones and metal jewelry.  So the next logical step was to make a brooch.  I worked it out in my mind first, which is how all my ideas start, then on paper if needed.  This time it was more a matter of just doing it to see if all the parts work.

To my delight, they did!  That's the real work, by the way, making sure all the tools and parts are the correct sizes to work together.  In this case it was the metal hole punch, the rivet size and the hole of the pin back.  You'll also need the correct rivet punch.  Next is design.

This first one I made with a wonderfully textured piece of copper from my scrap box that I'd been using for a punch test.  Who knew this would become a finished piece!  I cut it into a square and sanded all of the edges.

cold connection brooch

pin back

The real trick in the design process is placing the pin back so that the rivets add to the design on the front.  Where you place it on the back isn't as important because you can wear a brooch pinned just about anywhere;  sideways, upside down, etc., as long as the weight doesn't change how it hangs.  But these smaller ones are very light weight.

So you can see how I've placed the rivets so the flat end is on the pin back and the decorative, cap end is on the front of the piece.  By the way, these are 4mm compression rivets, manufactured to be hammered into each other.

I also added a tiny domed piece of metal on one of the rivets for design and dimension effect, otherwise it might have looked too flat and uninteresting.  All the odd dents and discoloration of the front of the piece add to the design, making it quite abstract.

The finished piece is only about an inch by an inch and a half, lightweight and versatile for any application, like a scarf, hat or lapel.  

I was so encouraged by how easily the first one came together that I quickly set to making a second one.  I used another piece of recycled metal from a previous design, a little bigger this time.  I liked the domed circle idea so I used it again, only this time it is added after I attached the pin back.

I think the rivets really add to the design of the front.  As I mentioned earlier, that's really the only consideration in designing these is the placement of the pin back in relation to how the rivets will look on the front.

I added the curl for more dimension on the front.

I think this line of jewelry is what I have been waiting for to apply my love for abstract design.  I wanted to paint abstracts for years but couldn't really get the hang of it.  Apparently I was destined for constructing it instead. 

A Riveting Story

 Jewelry riveting that is.  Metal, it's all about the metal.  They call it cold connections.  

I read up on the history of riveting and it seems it dates back as far as 3000 to 5000 BC!!  Who knew?  Of course the Egyptians would be in on it too, the master builders, then the Vikings and on through to the present day where riveting is done as hot and cold connections in all kind of structures, airplanes, you name it.

I have always been fascinated by the knight's armor, the metal, the color, the connections and rivets!  Someone made those by hand!  Can you believe it?

I want to learn how to do this - the old fashioned way, by cutting small bits of wire and shaping it into a rivet head.  I've done it with fine silver wire so far - but have yet to grasp the complexity on copper wire. 
On the silver wire I drew a bead first (the ball end that forms in the flame of the torch) and pounded that out in my rivet anvil, that seems the easiest way to start a rivet.  But more complex connections are going to take a lot of practice!

Here are some of the tools used for this task.

Riveting anvil.

Steel block.

I found some images online of jewelry made with rivets too.

Courtesy of the Internet.

Courtesy of the Internet.

I'll be doing something like this soon enough as well.  Remember, it's all about practice and patience!