Jewelry
Invoice Fretz’s Information to Hammer Textures
The three important areas of knickknack design are form, shade and texture.
Form is the muse and units the backdrop for shade and texture so as to add their magic. Hammer texture will be daring or delicate and is commonly the component that completes a chunk of handmade jewellery.
Hammered or hand-wrought jewellery is interesting for its ornamental high quality and for revealing how the piece was made. Hammer texture is a primitive means of forming metallic and in addition very important to the up to date jeweler, because it conveys the method of the craftsman at work. Working a chunk by hand is an aesthetic assertion in distinction to work that’s produced by machine or pc.
Making Pattern Discs
Making and conserving samples for varied hammer shapes is an efficient approach to have a reference for future designs. It is going to quickly be apparent to the craftsman what is feasible however not essentially to your potential clients. Displaying them the selection of textures with samples will give them an opportunity to take part within the design course of and can vastly improve their expertise with customized design work.
Merely reduce out a circle, dome it, and mark the hammer quantity on the clean for future reference. It’s a good suggestion to buff the clean to a scratch-free floor earlier than the texturing begins.
At Fretz, we code our hammers to point their objective. HMR-300 Sequence hammers are the biggest. HMR-100 Sequence are silversmithing-sized hammers. HMR-single-digit hammers are scaled for jewellery. HMR-400 Sequence hammers are designed for very small initiatives. You will need to keep in mind that every hammer produces two textures. Different hammer firms will even have hammers scaled for various sizes of initiatives.
The brass blanks are saved in plastic gem bins to maintain the textures from tarnishing and for simple presentation. I exploit two-inch brass circles for the bigger hammers, 11/Eight″ circles for the jewellery hammers and one-inch circles for the very small hammers. The disk dimension helps remind the viewer that the size of the hammer is related to the scale of the hammer marks.
Planishing Hammers
The Fretz planishing hammers, like most manufacturers, come in numerous sizes. The biggest is the HMR-101; it’s appropriate for hollowware or bigger jewellery initiatives. The HMR-1 is the center dimension and is heavy sufficient for most jewellery initiatives. The smallest is the HMR-401; it is used for delicate bezels and high quality texturing. Every hammer has a flat face with rounded edges and a domed face with rounded edges. The flatter the face, the extra delicate the feel. This group of hammers won’t work on concave shapes as a result of the face won’t match right into a hole curve. The domed hammer face will depart a deeper texture and extra apparent planish marks. Planishing is meant to depart even marks that overlap to refine the floor form. The domed brass form within the picture above was planished over a mushroom stake whereas the hammer struck the center space of the stake; the metallic was moved underneath these repetitive blows. The hammer is held very flippantly, so its weight does the work.
Embossing Hammers
Spherical and oval embossing hammers are available in at the very least 4 sizes. The very massive rounded HMR-301 is six-inches lengthy and leaves a big oval mark. A hammer with ball ends would fall into the class of an embossing hammer and depart a spherical dimpled mark. The curvature of the hammer’s working ends will decide whether or not the feel is daring or delicate.
Straight Cross-Peen Hammers
The cross-peen hammer’s faces will be broad or slim. The broader faces will work effectively in a concave bracelet form the place the specified marks are supposed to be minimal. Because the face turns into thinner, the marks will turn into extra pronounced. If the marks are overlapped, they are going to seem lengthy and parallel, very similar to rippling water.
Sharp cross-peen hammers, such because the HMR-12, will give a texture just like engraved traces. One of these hammer is meant for texturing and won’t be helpful for forming operations like many of the hammers mentioned above.
Riveting Hammers
The riveting hammer could make an outstanding texturing hammer for small-scale work. It could be mandatory to change the hammer so the flat face is barely domed and the sharp cross-peen is made to have a curved face just like the HMR-406 pictured above. The domed finish will give a really small planish mark on rings and earrings whereas the cross-peen will texture a line sample. Texturing flat metallic with a flat cross-peen is just not very profitable, however a barely curved finish will work effectively with out the corners catching for an uneven floor.
Goldsmithing Hammers
The HMR-21 Goldsmithing Hammer is just like the riveting hammer however bigger with a flat, spherical planishing finish. It’s attainable to get a lovely line sample with the cross-peen finish. A swirling sample can also be attainable. Draw a line with a skinny black marker pen and comply with the road with the curved cross-peen finish. That is solely attainable as a result of the top is curved and might comply with a wandering line. Proceed following your first line and the consequence can be hammer blows just like Van Gogh’s brush strokes. The very small HMR-413 will give the identical outcomes however in miniature.
Uncooked Silk Hammers
The HMR-14 Uncooked Silk Hammer is a part of a bunch of hammers with faces which might be both raised or etched for the aim of reaching fascinating floor enrichment by putting the metallic instantly with the hammer face. They’re devoted to texturing and will not be supposed for forming. The domed face imparts the feel and the flat floor can be utilized to burnish the floor for a multilayered impact if desired. The hammers are greatest used on the ultimate kind so they are going to impart probably the most outlined texture.
The spherical face of the primary Uncooked Silk hammer couldn’t attain right into a concave or anticlastic kind. A brand new hammer was required, and the HMR-14A was designed for these initiatives.
The form is first shaped with a nylon hammer over curved stakes after which textured over the identical stake. This hammer applies the feel in a short time by matching one of many two faces to a concave metallic floor.
Sandstone Hammer
The HMR-22 seems like a miniature meat tenderizer. The spherical flat face is for convex work and the domed hammer face is for flat metallic texturing. By repeated blows the metallic takes on the feel of a damaged piece of sandstone.
Textured Flutes
Delicately curved textured flutes are attainable with a rounded oval hammer just like the slim HMR-Eight. The curved profile makes each forming and the ensuing texture attainable over specialised stakes or by filling the shape with pitch. The broader HMR-9 hammer will give totally different outcomes on wider curves.
Compound Curves
For a sturdy texture on a bracelet with compound curves the bigger HMR-109 is an efficient selection. If totally different hammers are used for the domed shapes and the concave shapes, the marks won’t match. This hammer makes it attainable to do each shapes and get a uniform texture because the hammer follows the curved contours. Hammering or upsetting the sting is an efficient means of thickening the rim so it relates to different textured areas.
Contrasting Textures
Daring texture is typically more practical when contrasted with clean or flippantly textured areas. For the marriage ring within the picture above, spherical wire was first hammered with the HMR-22 texturing hammer after which positioned subsequent to clean half-round wire. Generally much less is extra.
One of many pleasures of knickknack is to rotate it within the hand and discover sudden designs or textures. Working the perimeters of a marriage ring, as proven above, can accomplish this.
The brand new MKR-7 hammer can be utilized for quite a lot of duties, together with direct fluting of metallic on a really small scale and forming metallic embedded or crammed with pitch. An sudden profit of the MKR-7 is that it makes seven actually fascinating textures with only one hammer. The ends are interchangeable and held with a set screw. One other “after it was designed” discovery is which you can rotate the heads and get textures in numerous instructions whereas nonetheless holding the undertaking in a cushty place.
The nice and cozy high quality of hammer textures varies by the hammer form, the drive of the blow and the scale of the hammer. Hammer textures used needs to be scaled to the shape and relate to the design by including a home made high quality to the general form.
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