A Customer Request - MaisyPlum

A Customer Request

I recently had a request from a wonderful customer that was a little different for me. I was asked to make her a hair barrette in copper for her up and coming wedding day. The spec I was given was

  1. It had to be made in copper
  2. Preferably shiny.
  3. The shape of a wishbone - as these hold a special meaning
  4. Forget-me-not flowers had to feature somewhere
  5. A hair barrette that would stay put! 

Don't PANIC!!!

I decided initially that I would probably mold it from copper clay, however, on reflection, this was not going to work as it was going to be too heavy to stay put, once it was fired. So, after much deliberation, I worked on forging my creation from copper wire.

I set about hammering, shaping and working the piece until I had a wishbone styled base. Due to the soldering, the metal is quite soft so I attached a bar to help stabilise it once it was work hardened, and this was also going to be where I would attach the flowers.

The next stage was to create the flowers, so I cut them out from some sheet metal. Three flowers in total. I soldered these togther at the tips and then attached them to the bar. I then gave it all a quick tumble to work harden the piece before I started enameling.

 

 

 

The final stage was the enameling! I must admit I was a little dubious about this part as you just never know - especially with my kiln, whether the piece will stay together or melt and fall apart! I had used hard solder so it was probably going to be ok, but you only need to leave an item for that little bit too long to make a mistake!!

 

Luckily it all panned out rather well! 

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