The Flipside of Brooches.
To make them wearable brooches need findings, which are attached along a line somewhere above the centre, so as to prevent the brooch from leaning forward in use. In the case of narrow brooches the pin might have to be positioned to operate at an angle , or from top to bottom, but always so that it hugs the fabric and does not fall out if the catch comes undone.
Brooches are usually worn on the left and pinned on from right to left. So on the far left I solder on a small revolving safety catch with the opening facing downwards. For the far right I use a visor joint, which is small and can be adjusted for height. Before soldering it on, its gap needs to be corrected to match the chosen pin wire. Pretty well all my brooches are made of silver, so for the pin I use 0.9mm stainless steel wire, or for really short pins 0.8mm wire. Stainless steel is allowed under hallmarking regulations. It is very strong and will not mark light coloured fabrics.
At one end of the pin I make a small loop to accommodate a 1.2mm silver rivet. I find that once the loops is started, the very tip is too tough to bend, so I nip this off with heavy duty pliers and then continue until it fits the rivet snugly. It will stay closed without soldering. The other end of the pin is eventually shortened until it protrudes by about 1.0mm beyond the safety catch, filed to a bullet point and polished with a rubber wheel.
But first the holes in the joint are reamed out by hand to fit the rivet wire. The rivet is held with flat pliers, supported on a steel block and one end spread with a small hammer. It helps if the pliers have been customised by making a vertical grove on the inner side of the beaks for this. The other end of the rivet is sharpened slightly so that it can be pushed through the joint and pin. The sharpened end is then cut off leaving about 1.5mm still protruding. For a flush rivet the holes will have been slightly countersunk on the outside with a round burr. Then one end is supported on a steel block or small anvil while the other end is gently tapped, turning over several times until the rivet holds firm. Then the heads are filed flush.
Although it is more fiddly, I prefer to form my rivet heads with two hollow nail punches, one in a vice to act as the anvil and one held in my hand. This is a bit of a balancing act, but leaves me with two round headed rivets which can be perfected with cup burrs.
For very precious brooches it is also possible to add a small safety chain, secured with a tiny pin shaped like a clothes hanger. Below are some brooch backs showing pin placement, A lapel bug with a threaded pin and thumb nut, Some hollow punches in action and some more low-tech solutions using tubes. Dennis.
